| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
|
| Press
Release- 2/5/03 |
 |
| |
|
|
| Department
of Livestock Captures Bull Buffalo
For Immediate Release: February 5, 2003
Contacts: Ted Fellman, Mike Mease (406) 646-0070
|
West
Yellowstone, MT--Montana Department of Livestock (DOL)
agents captured one bull bison this morning. Bull bison
are considered to pose a "low risk" of brucellosis
transmission by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS). A ranger from Yellowstone National Park
and game wardens with the Montana Department of Fish,
Wildlife and Parks assisted the DOL agents. The DOL did
not return calls inquiring whether the buffalo would be
sent to slaughter.
At least seven DOL agents on snowmobiles and horseback
spent about an hour looking for the lone bull bison outside
Yellowstone National Park. A moose was disturbed during
the haze. Last week the DOL spent several hours hazing
one bull bison, running it through a barbed wire fence
at least four times, before it escaped capture.
"We have observed hay in and around their trap for
the past few weeks. The hay lures the buffalo out of Yellowstone
and across a hundred yards of private land to the trap,"
said Mike Mease, a Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) coordinator.
There are no cattle present during the winter when the
DOL continue to haze, capture, and kill wild buffalo.
The Yellowstone bison traditionally use the area for winter
forage.
"The DOL continues to waste tax dollars with their
weekly hazing, capture, and killing operations at a time
when Montana is experiencing a budget deficit. Couldn't
this money be better spent on education or social programs
instead of funding a weekly buffalo haze?" asked
Ted Fellman, a BFC coordinator.
The Department of Livestock has spent nearly $3.5 million
since 1996 on bison management operations that have killed
1,827 wild bison. The Yellowstone herd is the only continuously
wild herd in the United States. It is descended from just
23 wild bison that survived the mass eradication of the
19th century and is the largest single population of genetically
pure bison remaining.
The Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in
the field, everyday, to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone's
wild buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo on their traditional
winter habitat and advocate for their protection. Daily
patrols stand with the buffalo on the ground they choose
to be on and document every move made against them.
Video footage is available upon request.
Top
of Page |
|
|
|
|
|
|
