Yellowstone NP Captures 53 of America’s Last Wild Bison
By LetBuffaloRoam, New West Unfiltered 2-08-08
P.O. BOX 957
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA 59758
406-646-0070
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
* PRESS RELEASE*
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK CAPTURES 53 OF AMERICA’S LAST WILD BISON
Park Intends to Slaughter Without Testing; Calves May Be Sent to Experimental Quarantine Facility
For Immediate Release, February 8, 2008
Contact: Buffalo Field Campaign, Stephany Seay 406-646-0070
GARDINER, MONTANA – Yellowstone National Park officials captured 53 wild American bison this morning inside the Stephens Creek bison trap located within Yellowstone National Park’s borders. The captured bison are members of the last wild, genetically intact population existing in the United States, and number fewer than 4,600. Most, if not all, will be sent to slaughter without being tested for brucellosis antibodies.
“The National Park Service is caving in to the unreasonable demands of Montana’s livestock industry at the expense of an American icon, our national heritage,” said Stephany Seay, media coordinator for Buffalo Field Campaign.
The bison were captured for following their natural migratory instincts and walking onto habitat that is privately owned by the Church Universal & Triumphant (CUT). CUT land hosts fewer than 250 head of cattle. Wild bison are also refused access to publicly owned Gallatin National Forest lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park and CUT property. In the winter months, grasslands in the Park are obscured by deep snow and bison and other wild ungulates venture to lower-elevation habitat where they find critical forage necessary for survival.
Yellowstone National Park officials said they will send the adult bison to slaughter without first testing them for exposure to brucellosis.
Bison calves may be tested for brucellosis antibodies. If testing occurs, those testing negative for antibodies will be sent to a state-federal quarantine feasibility study facility, while the rest will be slaughtered. More than half of the calves previously captured and quarantined by the government have been slaughtered, while the rest are being raised in pens like livestock.
Cattle interests claim such actions are necessary to prevent the spread of brucellosis, a livestock disease introduced to native wildlife in the early 20th century, from wild bison to cattle. However, there has never been a documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle.
“In one day the National Park Service is sending more than half as many bison to slaughter as have been killed during Montana’s entire three-month bison hunt,” said Mike Mease, co-founder of Buffalo Field Campaign. “When will the Park Service understand that they are in charge of protecting our wildlife, not protecting cattle interests?”
2,120 wild American bison have been killed or otherwise removed from the remaining wild population since 2000 under actions carried out by the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP), as well as state and treaty hunts. The IBMP is a joint state-federal plan that prohibits wild bison from migrating to lands outside of Yellowstone’s boundaries.
Wild American bison are a migratory species native to vast expanses of North America and are ecologically extinct everywhere in the United States outside of Yellowstone National Park.
Buffalo Field Campaign strongly opposes the Interagency Bison Management Plan and maintains that wild bison should be allowed to naturally and fully recover themselves throughout their historic native range, especially on public lands.
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, every day, to stop the slaughter of the wild American buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo and their native habitat and advocate for their lasting protection. Buffalo Field Campaign has proposed real alternatives to the current mismanagement of American bison that can be viewed at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/solutions.html. For more information, video clips and photos visit: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
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Montana needs legislation to order all state agencies to manage wild buffalo no differently than any other wildlife species. Even wolves are treated with considerably more respect, though they are seriously mistreated and misunderstood.
If the legislature can't stand up to the livestock industry, the issue should be taken directly to the voters by initiative.
This column drips with propaganda. Saying that the 53 are part of American's last wild bison is completely misleading.
The population of the YNP bison herd size is reaching near historic highs. The range can only support about 3000. The management compact among Montana, Wyoming, and the federal government recognizes that bison will outgrow any established range unless culled by starvation, predation, disease, or management. That management takes the form of hunting and selected capture with slaughter. Merely increasing the range delays until tomorrow those decsions that are faced today. Even Ted Turner culls his herd.
Calling these animals 'wild' after being mere zoo animals for summer tourists is a bit of a stretch. The BFC continually uses the word 'wild' without ever having defined what that means.
Here is a listing of 'wild' bison herds that does repeat the false statement about the YNP herd being the last: http://www.editthis.info/wildbison/List_of_Wild_Bison_Herds
Interesting, there were about 20 "wild bison" left in Yellowstone in 1902. 21 domestic bison from Texas and Montana were brought in to add to the population by breeding. Where did the "pure wild buffalo" come from in 2008??????? Surely they aren't 106 years old.
Comment By Craig Moore, 2-10-08I wonder why the BFC ignores the facts. For a list of the wild bison herds see: http://www.editthis.info/wildbison/List_of_Wild_Bison_Herds
Comment By Craig Moore, 2-10-08NW's Akismet keeps blocking my comments. I'll try again. To view the link below, substitute 'dot' with '.'
I wonder why the BFC continually ignores the facts. See the truth about wild bison herds here:
wwwdoteditthisdotinfo/wildbison/List_of_Wild_Bison_Herds
The bison herd in Yellowstone was supplemented, but it was with other bison. They refer to them as the "last wild bison" for a number of reasons--one of which is that the majority of other bison herds are either managed like cattle or, if they are free-roaming on refuges, they have strains of livestock in them. The Yellowstone bison population may be the last US herd that is 100% Bison bison without livestock DNA mixed in.
Craig, how did they come up with the 3000 cap on bison? How can the region support 14,000 or 15,000 elk but only 3,000 bison? Why are the elk allowed to roam outside the park and are not shipped to slaughter even though they have transmitted brucellosis to cattle? Why are elk fed on the National Elk Refuge but bison are viewed as interlopers that need to be controlled and removed? I don't want to see elk rounded up like cattle and sent to slaughter but current bison management policies are illogical. And they're using my tax dollars to treat wildlife like livestock in my national park and national forests. Your comment about bison numbers returning to "historic highs" seems way off. There used to be somewhere around 30 million across the US--how is 4500 in the YNP area even remotely at historic levels? I have no idea what historic levels of WILD bison you are talking about. And your referral to them as zoo animals because tourists go to Yellowstone is ridiculous. I guess you're one of the tourists who kicks a bison to get it to stand up for a picture because you think of the wildlife there as an exhibit for your pleasure instead of part of our natural heritage. I suppose all the wildlife there are zoo animals to you then--grizzlies, wolves, elk, deer, marmots..you name it, all zoo animals in your estimation. Or is it just bison? And if so, why just bison? Why are we just managing bison as cattle?
Oh my, where to begin. I believe that the BFDs are the only ones who actually buy into the only 100% buffalo in the US.
In the first place as far as historic buffs go, what we have now is primarily plains buffalo, only the remnant herd in Pelican Valley are the mountain buffs as I understand, and they are of course mixed now too.
No matter how many buffs roamed the plains, they were not all in one little spot in Yellowstone. There simply is not enough feed for them in the numbers now present and they leave, and please don't say they are following their historic migration paths, unless you think they are headed for Texas! Now if you want buffalo in your yard, that is fine with me, but I'm sure your neighbors are going to want them kept out fo theiers.
Each buffalo is approximately double the size of an elk. The nothern herd is now down by approximately 70%, (6000 over a year ago) and probably more by the time winter is over....if they ever decide to count again.
When they brought in the buffs they never intended that the herd get so large, and they became alarmed when the number was around 1000 in 1920. The buffalo have essentially no natural enemies, and are unaffected by brucellosis so they continue to grow without controls, that is their nature. That is why hundreds of thousands roamed an empty country before the white man came, if a tribe ran a few thousand off a cliff, it made no difference overall.
Brucellosis is a serious disease and NPS refuses to deal with it seriously, so osmeone else has to.
There is an excellent article on the whole thing in the latest issue of "Range Magazine" by Dave Skinner. Well worth trying to find a copy and read it.
Well, if you're going to be persnickety about it...the American Bison is not a buffalo. There are two subspecies: Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) and Plains Bison (Bison bison bison). I haven't come across anything referring to "mountain buffalo" other than your comment of course. The "mixed" comment refers to mixing with livestock, not with subspecies of bison. That is an important distinction. Second, there were millions of bison, not hundreds of thousands. Third, they do have important seasonal migrations--just like thousands of other wildlife species--generally revolving around food resources and mating or calving behaviors. This is not new. This is not the same as long-distance migrations. Fourth, if brucellosis is such a serious issue than why aren't elk hazed and shipped off to slaughter? Wild bison have not transmitted to cattle; there have been numerous cases of elk transmitting it to livestock. Fifth, humans prey upon bison--are we not a natural "enemy"? Wolves and grizzlies also prey upon them.
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