News from the Field
March 20, 2003
In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* Update on buffalo bills in the Montana Legislature
* Week of Action for the Buffalo, April 19-25
* Buffalo Exchange Earth Day Benefit
* Last Words
----------------------------------
* Update from the Field
Buffalo Supporters,
Spring has arrived in Yellowstone. Our Gardiner patrols have returned to West Yellowstone, and for now remain on standby in case more bison approach the northern boundary again and face possible hazing, capture and slaughter.
Last Saturday's Gardiner rally honoring the 231 slaughtered Yellowstone buffalo was a great success. BFC turned out with puppets, signs and much enthusiasm while locals showed up as well to display their support. The rally brought 75 people to the Gardiner Bridge where speakers from the BFC, Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC), Bear Creek Council, and Women's Voices for the Earth spoke about the past week's slaughter. A fair contingent of law enforcement officials was also present, but no tension between the two groups was apparent. The rally was a joint effort put together by BFC, GYC and Bear Creek Coalition. Thanks to all who came out to show their support for the buffalo!
A big buffalo thank you to George Nell with the Bear Creek Council for everything he has done for the buffalo these last weeks. George was instrumental in plugging us into the Gardiner community and has been a dedicated defender of the buffalo for many years. Thanks as well to Gene, Nicole, Betty, Irving, Mia, Mark, and Greg for all their support. Also thank you to Dave and Dagan at the Yellowstone Suites for donating a room and base of operations for our volunteers in Gardiner. Thanks also to Susan and LightHawk for finding us a pilot on such short notice and allowing us a bird's eye view of the Park's northern range. All of your support for the buffalo is greatly appreciated.
Recent newspaper articles have stated that, "forty-four percent of the bison taken to slaughter earlier this month from Yellowstone National Park tested positive for brucellosis, according to the Montana Department of Livestock" (Billings Gazette). This bit of (mis)information doesn't tell the whole story. The field test for brucellosis--the CARD test with blood taken from the bison--does not have the reliability of tissue culture tests. The tissue culture test has constantly shown a much lower infection rate of brucellosis, as it tests for the actual presence of the organism, not just exposure to brucellosis, or an acquired immunity. In fact, bison with brucellosis antibodies are more likely to be resistant to the disease, so slaughtering those animals threatens the herd's resistance to brucellosis.
This morning we made a number of calls to government agencies involved in the Gardiner slaughter (MDOL and APHIS), but mostly got awkward silent responses, voicemail, and a new list of numbers to call. So far this is what we have been able to confirm: 209 bison were tested using serology tests (CARD tests), not culture tests, and 44% were reactors (91 bison were reactors). This is like testing 209 grade school students for chicken pox, finding out that 91 had chicken pox antibodies (i.e. they had been exposed to chicken pox at some point), and then telling the public that 44% of grade school students have chicken pox. Exposure to a disease does not make a child or a buffalo contagious. Until testing is done for actual brucellosis infection, statistics released to newspapers will not answer the real questions.
We often find it discouraging that there is such a jumbled mess of scientific doublespeak, political hair-splitting and general misinformation covering up the fact that Montana and the US government are destroying a national source of pride and inspiration, the Yellowstone bison. We send out our hopes for an end to this madness and, as the seasons shift to a time of rebirth and new energy, for peace around the globe.
For the buffalo, Ted Fellman & Jonas Ehudin Media Coordinators
----------------------------------
* Update on buffalo bills in the Montana Legislature
SB 395, sport hunting of bison as a management tool, is currently scheduled for a hearing before the Montana House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee on Tuesday, March 25, at 3PM in room 152 of the capitol in Helena. This bill calls for a bison hunt in Montana to be directed by the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) in cooperation with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). All indications suggest that the proposed bison hunt is designed to take pressure off DOL by drafting hunters to do their dirty work.
The proponents of SB 395 claim that this would not be a repeat of the disastrous hunt that was shut down more than a decade ago. However, there are no provisions in SB 395 to insure a "fair-chase" hunt. DOL would be in charge of determining where, when, and which animals would be hunted. The Montana Wildlife Federation, the state's largest hunting association, officially opposes SB 395. They claim that in order to support a bison hunt in Montana, authority for bison management must be transferred to FWP, that all references to disease management must be separated from a hunt, and that bison management in the Yellowstone area must be re-evaluated to insure that a fair-chase hunt is possible.
The Buffalo Field Campaign further takes the position that bison must be given rangeland in Montana, programs to transfer bison to tribal entities must be investigated, and that the tribes must be incorporated in all management decisions affecting the herd. Please voice your opposition to SB 395 to the House Fish and Game Committee by fax or e-mail before Tuesday's hearing. Sample comments and detailed information about SB 395 are available: www.wildrockies.org/buffalo/politico/mtlegis03.html
House Joint Resolution 15 has now passed through both houses of the Montana Legislature and is currently awaiting the Governor's signature. HJR 15 is a statement from Montana to the federal government, specifically Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, and Ann Veneman, Secretary of Agriculture, urging the agencies to take a lead role in expediting the elimination of brucellosis in Yellowstone bison and elk. It is clear from both House and Senate committee hearings that the true implications of such a program on Yellowstone wildlife are underestimated and misrepresented.
The program envisioned by Rep. Wagman, sponsor of HJR 15, and the Montana Stockgrowers Association, who wrote the Resolution, calls for the Park to round up all Yellowstone bison for the purpose of testing, slaughter all seropositives, and vaccinate all seronegatives over a 5 year period. This program may also include lengthy quarantine (up to 4 years). The claim made by Rep. Wagman was that if brucellosis were eliminated in the bison, the disease would naturally disappear in the region's elk population! No scientific evidence to support this claim was given and there is no indication that the federal agencies hold a similar belief.
HJR 15 is an effort by Montana to place the management of Yellowstone bison and elk in the hands of the federal government. The scoping process that precedes a new environmental impact statement for the Greater Yellowstone Brucellosis Elimination Plan has not yet begun but will likely follow Governor Martz's signature and the transmittal of HJR 15. In the meantime, it is still not too late to voice your opposition to HJR 15 to Governor Martz. Information on HJR 15 is available: www.wildrockies.org/buffalo/politico/mtlegis03.html We will keep you informed about the progress of the federal brucellosis elimination plan.
For more information, please contact Josh Osher, BFC legal coordinator, at bfc-advocate@wildrockies.org
----------------------------------
* Week of Action for the Buffalo, April 19-25
The Montana Department of Livestock and the National Park Service have already killed 244 wild bison this winter.
Stop the slaughter of the last wild bison. Mass action requires a mass. Come defend the buffalo.
There were once over 60 million buffalo in North America. Now 3800 is considered too many. The Yellowstone buffalo herd is the only continuously wild herd in the US. Wild bison are hazed, captured and killed when they leave Yellowstone National Park and enter Montana. The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and the federal government have spent nearly $3.5 million since 1996 on bison management operations that have killed 2,064 wild bison.
Volunteers are urgently needed in the spring, when buffalo commonly migrate onto national forests outside Yellowstone National Park. Herds of buffalo are within a few miles of the Park boundary right now, moving toward Montana. Last spring the DOL killed 150 buffalo in April and May.
BFC provides volunteers with room, board, gear and equipment. We monitor the herd's migration, perform acts of non-violent civil disobedience, and document all actions taken against the buffalo. Non-violence, medical, legal, video, and media trainings (among others) will be provided.
Our Week of Action for the Buffalo is an opportunity to gather activists to concentrate our efforts to defend the buffalo. If you've been thinking about coming out (or back) to Yellowstone, please consider joining the buffalo for a Week of Action, April 19-25.
----------------------------------
* Buffalo Exchange Earth Day Benefit - April 26!
The Buffalo Exchange Benefit for the BFC on Earth Day, Saturday, April 26, 2003 is shaping up to be a sure success...thank you BFC volunteers and Buffalo Exchange!
Buffalo Exchange stores that are in MOST need of BFC volunteers are: * Flagstaff * Sacramento * San Diego - one more volunteer * Las Vegas
If any of our Arizona, Nevada or California volunteers have friends that live in those cities please encourage them to volunteer to help save our nation's last wild buffalo. BFC will supply all volunteers with the information they need to be well informed on the perils facing these wild bison.
Also, volunteers who would like to feature a BFC video in the store should contact our volunteer coordinator Justine buffalo@wildrockies.org; (406) 646-0070, and she will send the video out to you. Please remember, not all Buffalo Exchange stores will have the video or a TV/VCR. We appreciate all the effort put forth by our volunteers and Buffalo Exchange managers and employees to ensure a successful benefit.
----------------------------------
* Last Words
This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway.
-Bob Dylan
Buffalo Field Campaign
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(406) 646-0070
buffalo@wildrockies.org