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Bill to stop buffalo slaughter introduced
In response to the slaughter of buffalo near Yellowstone National Park, animal-friendly legislators have introduced a federal bill to protect these animals, who are symbols of our natural heritage. H.R. 3446, the Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act, was introduced by Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Charles Bass (R-NH) in response to the public outrage over the National Park Service's inhumane policy of chasing down an d slaughtering any Yellowstone buffalo who stray outside of the park's boundaries. The impetus for this inhumane policy is the hysteria of
Montana's livestock industry over the extremely unlikely possibility that bison may transmit the disease brucellosis to nearby grazing cattle herds. The NPS's lethal policy is not only cruel but unreasonable, as there has never been a single documented case of brucellosis transmission from wild bison to cattle. Recent reports indicate that the many buffalo are already being hazed and may be captured and sent to slaughter in the coming days.

What you can do:
Contact your Representative and ask that he or she cosponsor H.R. 3446,
the Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act. All Congresspersons can be
reached through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and you
can look up their names at www.Congress.org. You can also send an
electronic letter through the Fund for Animals' action cente r at:
http://action.fund.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=5097.

Buffalo Field Campaign   March 15, 2004
Gardiner, MT - Park rangers baited and hazed over 150 of America's last wild buffalo into the Stephens Creek trap inside Yellowstone National Park yesterday & today. In the past three weeks, the National Park Service (NPS) has captured 356 buffalo under pressure from the Montana livestock industry. Since November 24, 2003 the Park Service and the Montana Department of Livestock already killed 165 Yellowstone buffalo prior to Sunday's operation.

"Buffalo harassment is becoming a daily routine in Yellowstone," said Dan Brister of the Montana-based Buffalo Field Campaign. "With rangers luring buffalo into traps with trails of hay, handing them over to livestock inspectors who ship them to slaughter, and inoculating them with cattle vaccines and ear tagging them, we should start calling it Yellowstone National Ranch."

According to a press release issued by the park, the current slaughter is designed to keep buffalo "away from cattle grazing adjacent to the Park." The irony is the closest livestock are located on the Royal Teton Ranch (RTR), whose owners received more than 13 million tax dollars in 1998 for land and conservation easements intended to provide winter range for native buffalo.

Yellowstone is the only place in America continuously occupied by native buffalo. The park provided sanctuary to 23 individuals that survived the 19th century near-extinction. The Yellowstone herd is the largest remaining population of genetically pure bison. Slaughtering bison is in direct contradiction with the Park Service's mandate to protect park resources unimpaired for future generations.

The Park Service is currently domesticating another 154 buffalo that tested negative for exposure to brucellosis in the same crowded buffalo trap. Calf and yearling bison being held were vaccinated with RB51 brucellosis vaccine and ear tagged. Peer reviewed scientific studies have concluded that RB51 offers no significant protection for brucellosis to bison. There has never been a documented case of brucellosis being transmitted from wild buffalo to livestock. In the past ten years the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and NPS have slaughtered 2,666 buffalo in and around Yellowstone National Park. A year ago the Park Service sent 231 buffalo to slaughter without even testing them for brucellosis. Yellowstone buffalo slaughter is slated
to cost tax-payers nearly $3 million a year until 2015.

The slaughter has prompted members of Congress to introduce the Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act (H.R. 3446), which will place a three-year ban on the capture and slaughter of Yellowstone buffalo, dismantle the Stephen's Creek trap, and allow buffalo access to historic public lands habitat immediately adjacent to the park. It has more than 70 co-sponsors in the United States House of Representatives. Citizens from around the country are demanding protection for this national treasure and asking Congress to take the politics out of this situation and put science first. "We have no idea how this mismanagement will affect the genetic stability of this unique herd and future generations. This is an outrage!," said concerned citizen, Su Gregerson.

                                                             -30-
*Press Note: Unique footage from inside the capture facility, RTR Ranch and hazing operations available in addition to interviews. Thank you for covering this important issue!
Buffalo Field Campaign; PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(406) 646-0070 phone (406) 646-0071 fax --- buffalo@wildrockies.org www.wildrockies.org/buffalo


Buffalo Field Campaign  March 1, 2004
PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 
(406) 646-0070 phone (406) 646-0071 fax
buffalo@wildrockies.org www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
Yellowstone Park Captures 71 Buffalo on Saturday
Gardiner, MT - Park rangers captured 71 buffalo in Yellowstone National Park Saturday morning, bringing the total captured since last Saturday to 160. The animals will be tested for brucellosis antibodies today.  Of the 89 captured in operations last Saturday and Tuesday, 53 were turned over to the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) on Wednesday and Thursday for slaughter. None of the captured buffalo stepped foot outside the world's first national park. Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) volunteers documented the operations.

"Yellowstone used to be a wildlife sanctuary. Under the watch of Superintendent Suzanne Lewis it has been transformed into a buffalo slaughter facility set up to do the bidding of Montana's livestock industry," said Dan Brister, Project Coordinator of the Buffalo Field Campaign.

Yellowstone is the only place in America continuously inhabited by wild buffalo. The park provided sanctuary to 23 buffalo that survived the mass eradication of the 19th century. The Yellowstone herd comprises the largest remaining population of genetically pure bison.

Contrary to claims made by the DOL, the slaughtered buffalo tested positive for exposure to brucellosis, not the disease itself. "Trying to eradicate buffalo by killing exposed buffalo is like trying to eradicate chicken pox by killing everyone who has ever had them," Brister said. "Just because buffalo are exposed and have developed antibodies doesn't mean they are infectious."

There has never been a documented transmission of brucellosis from wild buffalo to livestock.
Today's capture brings the total number of Yellowstone buffalo trapped this winter to 178, 18 on the Gallatin National Forest near West Yellowstone and 160 at Stephens Creek. 63 were slaughtered and two were shot in the field. In the past ten years the DOL and NPS have slaughtered 2,566 buffalo in and around Yellowstone National Park.

The recent slaughter has prompted members of Congress to introduce the Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act (H.R. 3446), which will place a three year moratorium on the capture and slaughter of Yellowstone buffalo, dismantle the Stephen's Creek trap, and allow buffalo unfettered access to public lands immediately adjacent to the park. The bill currently has more than 60 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.

According to a press release issued by the park, the current slaughter is designed to keep buffalo "away from cattle grazing adjacent to the park." The closest livestock are located on lands belonging to the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). Taxpayers paid the Church more than $13 million on conservation easements and acquisition of CUT lands to protect bison and other wildlife in 1998.
According to the unreliable test, just 36 buffalo tested negative for brucellosis antibodies and will be confined in the trap until spring. Twenty-four yearlings and calves are being experimented on with the livestock vaccine RB51, which is known to be ineffective in bison.                              -30-
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