PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
phone (406) 646-0070 (406) 646-0071 fax
buffalo@wildrockies.org
www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
Bison Trap Closed to Protect Wildlife: Buffalo Advocate Prevents the Capture of 50 Buffalo
For Immediate Release: April 7,2004
Contact: Dan Brister (406) 646-0070
West Yellowstone, MT - 24 year-old Akiva Silver disrupted the Montana Department of Livestock's (DOL) plans to capture buffalo today by perching himself upon a platform suspended from a 45-foot pole (monopod) erected in the Horse Butte buffalo trap. The monopod is supported by ropes anchored to the outer walls and gates of the trap, making it impossible for agents to capture buffalo. A large banner hanging from the platform reads, "Bison Trap Closed to Protect Wildlife."
Silver, who witnessed the capture of hundreds of buffalo by the Park Service near Gardiner last month, said, "I refuse to stand by and watch my government destroy the last vestige of wilderness left in North America. These are public lands belonging to all Americans and the DOL has no right to slaughter buffalo here or anywhere else." He went on to add, "Since buffalo are being killed by the very agencies entrusted with their protection, it has become the responsibility of American citizens to protect them on our own. This is why I am here today."
A group of 50 buffalo migrated past the trap this morning, eliciting cheers from the Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers who had gathered to support Silver. "It was as if the buffalo were celebrating the trap's closure," said BFC spokesperson Dan Brister, "Had Akiva not been up there, those fifty buffalo now grazing peacefully along the Madison River would be in the trap awaiting slaughter."
The trap is located on the Gallatin National Forest in an area that provides crucial habitat for the Yellowstone buffalo and myriad other species. The Department of Livestock has operated a buffalo trap here since 1999 under a Special Use Permit from the Forest Service. The agency has used the Horse Butte trap to capture and slaughter hundreds of Yellowstone buffalo.
While the livestock disease brucellosis is the stated reason for the slaughter, there has never been a documented case of wild buffalo transmitting the disease to livestock. Since the Horse Butte grazing allotment was closed in 2002, there have been no cattle grazing on National Forest lands on the Butte, making any transmission of brucellosis absolutely impossible.
Since November the Department of Livestock and Park Service have slaughtered 277 buffalo, the most killed in a single year since 1996-'97, when the agencies killed nearly 1,100. In the past ten years the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and NPS have slaughtered 2,778 buffalo in and around Yellowstone National Park. Buffalo slaughter is costing federal taxpayers more than $3 million a year.
