WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. -- Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) agents captured twenty-four of America's last wild, genetically pure buffalo on Tuesday.  Eight more wild buffalo are being sent to slaughter, three calves will be sent to a quarantine facility, and thirteen will be released at Horse Butte, where wild buffalo are currently not tolerated. The livestock agents never made any effort to haze the buffalo back into Yellowstone National Park.

Since October 2004, the Department of Livestock has captured 46 Yellowstone buffalo, slaughtered 21, sent six to quarantine, and released 19 on Horse Butte.

"While the state touts quarantine as an alternative to slaughter, it is merely an attempt to domesticate and imprison the Yellowstone herd," said Dan Brister of the Buffalo Field Campaign.

The DOL hazed an additional 259 wild buffalo off of Horse Butte and the Madison River back to Yellowstone National Park today.  By this afternoon the buffalo had already turned around and headed back toward Horse Butte. 

Inaccurate Brucellosis Testing
The test the government uses to determine which buffalo are slaughtered and which are released is not inaccurate because it merely determines exposure to brucellosis.  Buffalo develop immunities to the European livestock disease and retain long-term antibodies.  Only 2 to 20 percent of Yellowstone buffalo actually carry any brucellosis bacteria.

There has never been a documented case of wild buffalo transmitting brucellosis to domestic cattle.

  "The DOL purposefully misrepresents the wild buffalo in Yellowstone as diseased animals even in the face of overwhelming evidence that most of the buffalo are not infected with brucellosis and the risk of transmission is extremely low.  This is nothing more than a policy of deception to mask a centuries-old range war," said Josh Osher of the Buffalo Field Campaign.

Dr. Paul Nicoletti, DVM from the University of Florida, and a leading expert on brucellosis stated, "Bison bulls, calves, yearlings, and non-pregnant cows pose no measurable risk of bacteria transmission.  The risk is further reduced by spatial and temporal separation of cattle and bison; for example, cows are not present on the west side of the park between October and June."

Buffalo Migration
Hundreds of America's last wild and genetically pure buffalo are underway with their spring migration and heading to Horse Butte on the Gallatin National Forest.  Horse Butte is public land surrounded by water.  There are no active cattle grazing allotments there and there are no cattle present anywhere in the area until June, by which time the buffalo will have already migrated back into the high country of Yellowstone National Park.

The DOL's hazing operations not only disrupt the buffalo migration and the ecosystem, they endanger motorists by causing the buffalo to cross the highway 191 numerous times, causing traffic accidents.  Highway 191 dissects the buffalo's migratory corridors - the Madison River, Duck Creek, and Cougar Creek - and buffalo that make safe passage across the highway to Horse Butte are pushed back across again and again by DOL agents. So far this spring, seven buffalo have been struck by motorists and have died as a result.

"The annual buffalo migration is an amazing phenomenon that Montana should welcome and celebrate," said Stephany Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign.  "Instead the state stubbornly insists upon harassing and slaughtering every buffalo that steps out of the park to appease the livestock industry."

"There is no other state that can boast of such an awesome ecological event, and Montana should rescind the authority given to the livestock industry that cripples and crushes what should be celebrated.  Montana's zero-tolerance policy of wild buffalo on national public lands must end, and a good place to start is by allowing the wild buffalo to access their traditional calving grounds on Horse Butte," said Seay. 

Solutions
Dr. Nicoletti added, "Potential solutions that should be considered include the mandatory vaccination of domestic livestock, closure of specific cattle grazing allotments, removal of cattle from private land through acquisition or easement, spatial and temporal separation of cattle and bison, phasing out elk feed grounds, and the restoration of more natural winter conditions in Yellowstone National Park."

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, everyday, to stop the slaughter of the wild Yellowstone buffalo.  Volunteers defend the buffalo on their native habitat and advocate for their protection.  Video footage is available upon request.
                                               

We enjoyed the beauty of the buffalo and the breaking day, even as we braced ourselves for what would come. Unfortunately the livestock industry runs Montana and buffalo are tolerated nowhere in the state.  Shortly after 8am two snowmobiles sped swiftly along the road at the base of the Butte, far below.  They were driven by agents of the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL), scouting the area for buffalo.  The DOL has no tolerance for buffalo in Montana, even on the Butte, National Forest land owned by all Americans.

We positioned ourselves to document the hazing operation, out of view of the agents.  At ten o'clock three horse-mounted agents arrived along with four on snowmobile.  They headed out along the lower road and cut up the Butte, behind the great herds of buffalo.  I filmed as the operation began, the agents shouting, "Haw! Haw! Git up! Git up!" disrupting the grazing buffalo and starting them down the hill.  Soon the scattered herds were congregated in a large group at the base of the hill.  The agents went after this group with a vengeance, revving their engines and barking at the herd.  Suddenly the herd broke, and like water from a broken dam, buffalo poured off the Butte.  Braced against a rock I filmed them as they sprinted along the bluffs of the Madison River, away from their birthing grounds.

When the last buffalo had passed from eyesight Roman and I took to our feet and headed down the hill.  Weaving our way between sagebrush we sprinted down the steep slopes, reaching the bottom just as the operation disappeared to the east.  We were relieved to find 35 buffalo on the eastern flanks of the Butte, inside a bald-eagle sanctuary off-limits to the agents.  The rest of the herd wasn't so lucky.  They were run relentlessly for more than five miles to Yellowstone National Park, on the other side of Highway 191.  Because the Butte is their birthing ground, where they need to be at this time of year, the buffalo turned around and headed back almost immediately. 

Why the DOL insists on chasing them so relentlessly is a great mystery.  There are never, at any time of year, cattle on any of the public lands on Horse Butte.  By repeatedly pushing the buffalo across the highway, the agents are interrupting the natural migration and endangering the public and the buffalo in the process.  Instead of crossing the highway twice, the buffalo are forced to cross dozens of times.  Already this year seven have been hit by trucks as a result.
While Roman and I documented the haze, our fellow volunteers, on patrol at Duck Creek, watched livestock agents handling and harassing 24 buffalo in the Duck Creek trap.  Captured on Tuesday, the buffalo were being tested for antibodies to brucellosis.  As I type the update this morning eight buffalo, stuffed in a livestock trailer, are on their way to the slaughterhouse.  Three buffalo calves will be shipped to a quarantine facility where they will be held for up to four years, victims of a science experiment that will erode the wildness that makes them unique.

Spring is our busiest time.  With more than ten volunteers in the field during all daylight hours and our media coordinators working 12 hour days to share the plight of the buffalo with the world, we are  extremely busy.  The Buffalo Field Campaign is a volunteer-driven organization and we rely on contributions from people like you to keep our volunteers well-fed, housed, and equipped to document every action taken against the buffalo and to build a movement to protect the buffalo forever.

If you care about the buffalo and want to ensure our continued presence in the field, please make a donation today.  Five and ten dollar donations are our bread and butter, so if you can, please send a tax-deductible donation.  We are a grassroots group and every penny goes directly to the front-lines defense of the buffalo.  If you can't afford to make a financial contribution, you can help in other ways.  Below you will find information on writing public comments in opposition to the quarantine facility and letters you can write to Montana's governor, urging him to  provide habitat for buffalo in Montana.  Together we are making great strides for the buffalo, please take action today!