previous buffalo news       subsequent buffalo news                   home

April 27, 2001
Pregnant females and calves hazed
It has been a busy week along the western boundary of Yellowstone. The Department of Livestock has hazed bison every day. Wednesday was the largest operation of the week as over 200 bison were hazed from Horse Butte, most of them pregnant females and newborn calves. At least one female gave birth during the operation and the calf was forced to immediately walk three miles to the park (see press release below). DoL, Forest Service, and Park Service agents showed their total disregard for the bison by continuing to haze, even as the bison were giving birth. They are out again today, the ninth in a row, hazing bison and newborns who escaped Wednesdays
operation.  The Horse Butte community showed there support for BFC and credited several volunteers with containing a fire that broke out during the operation. A burn pile got out of control and the volunteers were able to keep the fire from spreading onto two properties, literally saving those houses from the fire. The agencies involved in the hazing operation ignored the fire and actually slowed down our response to a request for help. It is extremely difficult to witness this kind of abuse. We have been in the field documenting the madness, and are sending the video footage to media outlets and groups like the Humane Society. BFC has decided not to disrupt these operations because it would only put more stress on the bison at an obviously critical time.

April 19, 2001
This week has brought us wonderful warm sunshine and good news for the buffalo. On Tuesday, the DOL began to take down and pack up the Horse Butte capture facility. By Wednesday afternoon the facility was completely disassembled and no longer a threat to over 50 bison who have returned to Horse Butte after last weeks hazing operation. On Thursday the facility was removed from National Forest lands, leaving only the scarred ground as remembrance. We rejoice at this turn of events, but wonder at the waste of monies at having the facility up all winter, with 24 hour security, and only using it on one day in March. 

The answer is rooted in DOL's public relations campaign. They are trying to clean up their image as bison killers, and pad the budget for next year. Even though these hazing operations can be deadly for bison, especially pregnant females, DOL has been claiming they are saving bison by moving them back to the park. They claim to have successfully moved over 1400 bison back to the park in the last 4 years. This is just short of an outright lie, as nearly all of those bison left the park shortly after the hazing. The Buffalo Field Campaign will continue to speak out against these unnecessary
and wasteful tactics, but will not disrupt hazing operations because it would only place more stress on the bison. Thursday, the 19th, has marked another day of hazing. Although the helicopter is not in the skies, an arsenal of government officials have descended upon the greater Yellowstone ecosystem to enforce the arbitrary park boundary.

The same groups of bison, including many pregnant females, are again being hazed.We are happy that Frog has been released on bail, pending an appeal of his 30 day sentence last week. Thanks to all who offered support to him while in jail. This week the four defendants facing federal charges together got yet another surprise when their trial date was moved up to the 25th of April. Please keep them in your thoughts as they go before judge this week.We hope that springtime finds you well and thank you as always for your support and prayers for the last free roaming buffalo. We couldn't be out here in the field without your support, phone calls, letters and hard work!

For the buffalo!
Buffalo Field Campaign   POB 957  West Yellowstone, MT 59857

April 13, 2001
Fifth Bison Helicopter Haze in the Greater Yellowstone Area
Thursday morning, the Department of Livestock conducted a hazing operation of wild bison at Horse Butte and along the Madison River Valley, just west of the Yellowstone National Park. The Department of Livestock used a helicopter, ATVs and Horses to haze the approximately 31 bison to Yellowstone National Park. One BFC
volunteer was arrested for allegedly entering a closed area surrounding the Horse Butte capture facility during the operation.

During the spring, Cow and calf bison take their natural migration pattern along the Madison River out of the park to the national forests Horse Butte peninsula. They typically give birth to their young and return to their habitat within the park by late spring. Their migration to Horse Butte provides them and their young with green grasses that have yet to sprout in higher elevations of the park. This area that the bison migrate was set aside by Congress in 1926s Gallatin Land Agreement as the greater Yellowstone ecosystem for the use of the National Parks wildlife during winter and spring.

The Madison River Valley is well known for its pristine habitat. This winter and spring BFC volunteers have, on numerous occasions, sited elk, deer, pine martins, beaver, moose, Golden and Bald Eagles and countless species of waterfowl including Trumpeter Swans, Great Blue Herons and Sand Hill Cranes. The river valley leading to Horse Butte serves as prime reproducing and foraging habitat for Yellowstone and
National forest wildlife.

This morning the DoL helicopter repeatedly flew at treetop level and violated a no fly zone over the Horse Butte area in their efforts to haze a group of bison which included at least five pregnant cows due to give birth in April and May. Today marks the fifth time in two months that DoL has used a helicopter in this delicate ecosystem. The hazing is part of the Bison Management Plan that was developed over a ten-year period by the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and the State of Montana. The plan will spend over $40 million in taxpayer money in the next fifteen years. Rather than focusing on solutions, this new plan only perpetuates the myth of brucellosis and the slaughter and mistreatment of the last wild buffalo.

Buffalo Field Campaign is opposed to the repeated and unnecessary hazing of these animals, and remains adamant that bison be granted the same rights as other wildlife. BFC volunteers have observed that bison hazed back to the park during past DOL operations quickly return to the same area. Each hazing action further places pregnant cows at a high risk for abortion and disrupts crucial migratory and sensitive reproductive patterns of all wildlife in the area.

The Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) 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. Our daily patrols stand with the buffalo on the ground they choose to be on and document every move
made against them.
previous buffalo news          subsequent buffalo news                home