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Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957 West Yellowstone, Mt. 59758
Phone (406)646-0070 Fax (406)646-0071
E-mail buffalo@wildrockies.org.     http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo

Three Activists Block Road to Bison Trap Site; Two Arrested

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 4, 2001
Media Contacts: Dan Brister, Pete Leusch, Summer Nelson, (406) 646-0070

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT-Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers occupied Forest Service road 610 early this morning, blocking access to a bison capture facility site on the Horse Butte Peninsula. One activist sat in a platform suspended from a tripod while another attached herself to a locking device which was buried in the road. A third perched in a tree and videotaped as law enforcement personnel worked to remove the protesters and dismantle the blockade.

The Horse Butte Peninsula is located on the Gallatin National Forest
immediately to the west of Yellowstone National Park. In addition to the
Yellowstone buffalo, the peninsula provides critical winter habitat for the
Yellowstone buffalo, bald eagle, gray wolf, trumpeter swan, peregrine
falcon, grizzly bear, wolverine, lynx, and boreal owl.

There are no cows on Horse Butte until June. All of these cows winter in
Idaho, and are currently vaccinated against brucellosis. The summer
grazing on Horse Butte amounts to 172 cow/calf pairs being present from
June 15th through October. Although this grazing allotment brings in less
than $800 to the U.S. Treasury, the state and federal governments have
committed more than $ 40 million over the next 15 years to haze, capture,
and slaughter buffalo.

"Powerful livestock interests are robbing our treasury with one hand while they slaughter America's last wild herd of buffalo with the other," stated BFC spokesperson Dan Brister. "Today's actions demonstrate our commitment to bring the unnecessary slaughter to a stop."

The blockade was constructed a day after DOL agents began clearing the
snow-covered road, alerting the bison advocates of their intentions to
construct the trap. The facility is designed to capture and test buffalo
who migrate to the peninsula. During the winter of 1998-99, the Horse Butte trap was used to capture more than a hundred buffalo. The DOL slaughtered 94 buffalo that winter.

DOL agents arrived at the scene shortly after 8 am and focused attention on Jayna Jensen who was locked into the road. After removing her sleeping bag the livestock agents took her food and water and poured her warm tea on the ground inches from her face. Facing hypothermia in the subfreezing temperatures, she released from the lockdown on her own after three and a half hours. The agents then focused their attention on the man in the tripod, attempting to knock him from his perch 30 feet above the ground by repeatedly poking him with a long stick.

Law enforcement officers from the Department of Livestock, Montana Highway Patrol, the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, and the US Forest Service worked together later in the day, with an electric company cherry picker, to pluck first the videographer and then the man occupying the tripod. Both were arrested and sent to the Gallatin County Detention Center in Bozeman.

Of the 65,000 public comments submitted on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for long-term bison management, the majority were not in support of government policies of trapping migrating buffalo. "The Buffalo Field Campaign will continue to stand up for the 65,000 unheard voices in protecting our country's national treasure of buffalo," stated Mike Mease.

Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers defend the buffalo on their traditional
winter habitat and advocate for their protection. BFC is the only group
working in the field every day to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone's wild
buffalo.

Video footage available upon request
__________________________________________________________
BFC is the only group working 365 days a year in Yellowstone with the buffalo.
Under IRS determination - donations to 501(c)(3) non-profit
organizations are tax deductible. Contributions to BFC are
tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law and support our
aggressive, front line volunteer campaigns.

Info re: the buffalo at    http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo

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