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Update from the Field
We are moving quickly into winter; a time of quiet and
time of stillness. For the buffalo bulls that have had
the nerve to cross the arbitrary park boundary line,
it is anything but. Again this week, four amazing animals
were hazed off of Horse Butte, despite the pleas of
the people who live there to let them stay. Another
bull had been grazing peacefully along the highway on
the property of an area restaurant. Department of Livestock
agents requested permission to chase the bull back into
the park, but it was denied - restaurant owners said
he could stay. The folks who live out here have an extremely
important role in helping protect the Yellowstone buffalo.
BFC is continuously building relationships with the
local people who want wild buffalo around, and in doing
so, we build a stronger voice for the buffalo.
We are still in need of volunteers here at camp. As
more buffalo leave the park, it takes more people to
cover patrols. Everyone here right now has been working
sunup to sundown. Department of Livestock agents have
been hazing several times per week. Energetic volunteers
with a strong desire to protect the last wild bison
are needed now.
We sit with the buffalo again this week. We see the
light changing a little bit more each day. The lakes
and ponds are beginning to freeze. The greater Yellowstone
area is a complex, diverse, and wonderful region. Living
here, I am thoroughly amazed on a daily basis. Bison,
elk, woodpeckers, wolves, herons, eagles, coyotes, ravens,
lodge pole pine, big sagebrush, rivers, streams. There
is so much life and so much that is still wild. In a
world where wild places disappear everyday, we must
protect this one. People from all over the world visit
Yellowstone because of this uniqueness. As humans, some
of us are drawn to the wild. Some of us just need to
know it's there. The bison embody all that is wild and
free. They will continue their resistance until they
can roam where they choose.
With love and respect for the wild,
Amy
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* Come Stand with the Buffalo - Volunteers Needed!
Buffalo are coming out of the park, the Department of
Livestock is in the field, and we need YOU to come stand
with us in defense of the buffalo. Winter is upon us,
and as the buffalo migrate out of the park in search
of winter forage, the agents lurk in the background,
waiting to chase, capture and slaughter members of America's
last wild herd. We are in need of field volunteers,
so if you have ever considered coming to West Yellowstone,
MT to stand in the buffalo's defense and document actions
taken against them, now is a great time to do so. We
also need help around the cabin and office, so please
consider arriving whether you want to be out on skis
or indoors. Anyone willing to stand in defense of our
last wild buffalo are always welcome, our doors are
always open.
BFC provides free room and board to anyone willing to
work in defense of the buffalo. To volunteer or to learn
more about being a BFC volunteer, please email us at
buffalo@wildrockies.org
or call 406-646-0070. If you can't make it in person,
but would like to keep us in the field, please make
a monetary or in-kind donation. Use the mailing address
at the end of this email, or email Su at bfc-programs@wildrockies.org
if you have questions. For more information visit our
new web site at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
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* 2004 East Coast Road Show Completed
After six weeks of travelling the east coast highways,
carrying the buffalo's story to folks from Virginia
to Maine, we have finally returned home to Montana.
Even though we were up against some serious competition
- the 2004 elections, the World Series, and a fabulous
lunar eclipse - we were able to bring the buffalo's
message to many new and inspiring people. Thanks to
the many folks who helped organize these important presentations,
scores of people on the East Coast were able to witness
BFC's video footage from the field, and hear the buffalo's
story for the very first time. We distributed nearly
8,000 newsletters, placed video footage in the hands
of people who will show it far and wide, and most importantly
we reconnected with familiar folks while we garnered
many strong new supporters, volunteers and friends.
These connections are critical and priceless and they
strengthen our ability to stop the senseless harassment
and slaughter of America's last wild buffalo. Thank
you from the bottom of our hearts for making the last
wild herd of buffalo important in your life.
As we enter this season, buffalo are already under attack
from many directions, and BFC volunteers are hard at
work defending them. Your support, whether you volunteer,
organize in your community, write much-needed letters,
or support us financially, keeps us in the field and
inspires us to carry on. In connecting with you we have
strengthened our alliance and added thousands of voices
to the buffalo's cause. Thank you. We look forward to
seeing you again next year, if not sooner!
For the Buffalo,
Dan, Stephany and Jasmine
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* TONIGHT! Yellowstone Buffalo Documentary Airs
Again - Watch With Caution!
The Yellowstone buffalo will be featured again in an
Animal Planet special to be aired tonight (Thursday)
at 8pm and 11pm EST. The program includes information
on the natural history of America's only continuously
wild herd as well as news of the buffalo's current plight
and an interview with Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field
Campaign. Please tune in tonight and tell your friends!
WATCH WITH CAUTION: Animal Planet aired this program
on Sunday, November 14, and many of you tuned in only
to discover the program didn't represent the issue very
well. The story heavily focuses on "controlling"
the disease brucellosis, rather than the tragedy befalling
the last wild buffalo, and made it appear that the National
Park Service was doing everything to stop the supposed
threat of brucellosis transmission from buffalo to cattle.
The program also repeated how buffalo that are not back
in the park by May 15 are then subject to capture and
slaughter; unfortunately, although this date is written
as a deadline for buffalo in the plan, our first-hand
experience in the field has repeatedly belied it because
buffalo are subject to harassment, capture and slaughter
*anytime* they are out of Yellowstone National Park,
and as we've experienced in the last two years, sometimes
without ever even leaving the park. Please contact Animal
Planet and thank them for airing the documentary, but
urge them to tell the whole truth, based on all the
facts. Use the link below to fill out a comment form
for Animal Planet's Viewer Relations Staff: http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations.
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* ACTION ALERT--Buffalo Quarantine
Comment Period Extended until 5 PM on November 24th
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks along with USDA's Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service have released plans
to capture, quarantine, and slaughter up to 200 buffalo
calves in the next two years. The plan is to test a
hypothesis about the effectiveness of brucellosis serologic
tests. Please let the agencies know that Yellowstone's
wild buffalo are not available for science experiments.
Comment information is available on our web site at
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/legislative/quarantine.html.
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* Last Words
"There is nowhere in this country, nor in any of
the waters adjacent to it, a living species of any kind
which the United States Government can not fully and
perpetually protect from destruction by human agencies
if it chooses to do so. The destruction of the buffalo
was a loss of wealth perhaps twenty times greater than
the sum it would have cost to conserve it, and this
stupendous waste...was committed by one class of the
American people and permitted by another with a prodigality
and wastefulness which even in the lowest savages would
be inexcusable."
~ William Temple Hornaday, The Extermination of the
American Bison (1889)
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