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Below you will find several updates over the past month from Buffalo Field Campaign. There are more updates then I have posted and you can read them by visiting their site.
For Immediate Release: January 29, 2003
West Yellowstone, MT--Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) agents captured two bull bison yesterday afternoon and attempted to capture a third this morning. The agents were assisted by a ranger from Yellowstone National Park and game wardens with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. During this morning's operation a herd of approximately a dozen elk was spooked from a riparian area along Duck Creek when eight agents on snowmobiles and two on horseback disturbed them in their attempt to haze the buffalo to the capture facility. The buffalo was hazed through a barbed wire fence at least four times before eluding the agents and escaping into heavy timber. "The DOL claimed to have hazed the bull back to the park but our volunteers were stationed on the park boundary and the bull never went back in," according to BFC volunteer Mike Mease. BFC volunteer Kat Koch said "I watched eight snowmobiles, two men on horseback, two sheriffs, and a DOL agent in a truck chasing one bull bison. It was completely absurd. And even with all their manpower, wildness won." The Department of Livestock has spent nearly $3.5 million since 1996 on bison management operations that have killed 1,825 wild bison. The Yellowstone herd is the only wild herd in the United States. It is descended from just 23 wild bison that survived the mass eradication of the 19th century. ___________________________________________ 1/23/03
The snow has arrived at last, covering the landscape in a soft white blanket. Winter finally feels like winter, which is a mixed blessing for the buffalo and us. More snow sends the buffalo wandering in search of winter forage. That wandering often leads them out of Yellowstone and into Montana's deadly political conflict. As if to remind us of this fact, yesterday we witnessed the first captures of the new year. Accompanying the captures was a confusing emotional rollercoaster ride for all of us. The day started before sunrise with our patrols taking positions near some of the bull bison outside the Park. The usual motorcade of acronyms arrived--DOL (Department of Livestock), USFS (Forest Service), FWP (Fish, Wildlife & Parks), NPS (National Park Service), as well as county sheriffs and highway patrol officers--with an assortment of trucks, trailers, snowmobiles, and horses. |
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