WEST YELLOWSTONE- Today the Department of Livestock agents on horseback fired crackerbarrels and chased 11 buffalo from the Bear Trap housing area for about two miles and back into Yellowstone Park.

They then hazed approximately 16 more buffalo from fields adjacent to the park boundary. Most of these buffalo were bulls. These buffalo have been outside of the park and in the housing area almost continuously for the last two weeks.

Buffalo Nations volunteers have observed that buffalo who were hazed back to the park during past DOL operations always return to the same areas by the next day, even when the areas are two miles out of the park.

"The Department of Livestock continues to claim they are saving the buffalo by hazing them back into the park. But, these same buffalo will continue to come out of the park to their traditional winter forge grounds regardless of where the DOL tries to make them go," stated Mike Bowersox of Buffalo Nations. "However, as the snow accumulates, continual hazing stresses the buffalo unnecessarily and increases the potential for winterkill."

According to the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, bulls, yearlings, calves and non-pregnant bison are considered "low risk" for brucellosis transmission. APHIS has stated that the presence of these animals in the state is not sufficient cause for revocation of Montana's brucellosis-free status.

"The actions of the DOL just don't make any sense," stated Sue Nackoney of Buffalo Nations. "Why aren't better solutions being discussed, solutions that take a scientific approach to disease management and a realistic look at the non-existant potential for these bison to ever transmit brucellosis to cattle."

Cattle do not return to the West Yellowstone area until June. There are no cattle nor grazing allotments in the Bear Trap housing area or in the fields adjacent to the park where buffalo were hazed today.

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