Buffalo Field Campaign
Breaking News from the Field
March 5, 2003Please take time to read this - a slaughter unequaled sine 1996-97 has
begun again...In this issue:
* Update from Gardiner - 133 Buffalo Sent to Slaughter
* Contact Yellowstone National Park and the Montana Department of
Livestock* National and Local Media Coverage
* Current Slaughter Threatens Survival of Entire Yellowstone Bison Herd
* Exposing the Brucellosis Myth
* Support Needed for Continued Buffalo Defense
* Last Words
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* Update from the Field
Dear friends and supporters...
Yesterday we let you know that Yellowstone National Park is currently capturing and slaughtering wild bison in the Park near Gardiner. Thank you to all of our many buffalo supporters who have responded with their concerns and interest in contacting the public officials who oversee the ongoing slaughter of the last wild bison. Today we are sending you more information in this weekly update with actions that we encourage you to take.
The reports from Gardiner are of more buffalo being captured and sent to slaughter. Yesterday, the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) shipped 47 buffalo to slaughter. The National Park Service (NPS) captured approximately 60 bison yesterday afternoon, leaving 150 bison in the Stephens Creek trap last night. Today the DOL hauled 86 buffalo to slaughter with a heavy police escort. Park representatives have indicated that they could kill around 300 buffalo this week. There are an additional 30 or more bison in the area near the Stephens Creek trap that could be hazed or captured this week. With 133 buffalo already sent to slaughter and more buffalo awaiting slaughter in the trap, there are already at least 200 wild bison facing slaughter this week.
We were expecting to be granted media access to the buffalo trap this morning, as was indicated by the Park's public affairs officer, Marsha Karle. It was quite a shock when Mike Mease was denied that access, for the reason that he was considered a "security risk." Mike is a videographer, producer and has done freelance work for CNN as well as many other national press sources. Montana courts have ruled in the past that he is considered a media representative. Another videographer was allowed in, but only after authorities ran a background check and frisked him. No other reporters at the trap were subjected to this kind of treatment. The BFC videographer who was allowed entry reports that he documented numerous injuries sustained by buffalo confined in the trap. Wild buffalo often gore each other when trapped in a facility designed for domestic cattle.
The Park Service explains their actions as being required by the Interagency Bison Management Plan. The Plan establishes a population target of 3000 animals, above which buffalo leaving the Park are to be hazed or captured and slaughtered without brucellosis testing. The Park Service has hazed some buffalo further into the Park recently, but has determined that hazing is not an effective solution. It is worth noting that many of the captured buffalo have not left the Park, but have been captured inside Yellowstone as they approach the boundary. It is also worth noting that the genetic viability of the herd is at stake, as you can read below.
Thank you all for your continued concern for the Yellowstone buffalo. We hope you will let the Park Service and Montana's Department of Livestock know your feelings on these recent developments. Only you can speak for these majestic beings.
For the buffalo,
Ted Fellman & Jonas Ehudin
Media Coordinators
Buffalo Field Campaign----------------------------------
* Contact Yellowstone National Park and the Department of Livestock
Many readers have already expressed interest in writing, calling, or emailing someone to express their outrage, concern, confusion, and criticism. Of course, when speaking on behalf of the buffalo, it is important to be respectful. We show our strength and commitment by creating a challenging dialogue that cannot be dismissed due to emotion.
Remember that the NPS is capturing the buffalo and the DOL are transporting them to slaughter. Both agencies have a role in the current slaughter. Below is contact information:
Yellowstone National Park:
Suzanne Lewis
Superintendent
Yellowstone National Park
PO Box 168
Yellowstone Park, WY 82190
(307) 344-2002
suzanne_lewis@nps.govMarsha Karle
Public Affairs Officer
Yellowstone National Park
PO Box 168
Yellowstone Park, WY 82190
(307) 344 2015
marsha_karle@nps.govPossible points to make to the NPS:
* Withdraw from the Interagency Bison Management Plan. If the Park really doesn't want to slaughter bison, encourage them to withdraw from the Plan that requires them to do so, and develop a better plan that addresses the issues without killing bison.
* Explore alternatives. Alternatives were considered in the Plan, but so far money has not been made available to develop a long-term quarantine facility so that buffalo could be introduced onto reservations as requested by the Intertribal Bison Cooperative. It's time that money being spent on the slaughter be spent to explore viable alternatives.
* Protect America's natural heritage. The Yellowstone bison herd is a unique part of our natural heritage and deserves protection. Encourage the Park to fulfill its mandate to preserve our natural environment for future generations.
* Challenge the Park's population target of 3000 as not protecting the genetic viability of this unique last herd of free ranging wild bison. See below for more information.
Montana Department of Livestock:
Marc Bridges
Executive Officer
Montana Department of Livestock
PO Box 202001
Helena, MT 59620
(406) 444 7323
mbridges@state.mt.usKaren Cooper
Public Affairs Officer
Montana Department of Livestock
PO Box 202001
Helena, MT 59620
(406) 444 9431
kcooper@state.mt.usPossible points to make to the DOL:
* Challenge the brucellosis myth. See below for more information.
* Encourage the DOL to spend money currently used for "bison management" on developing an acceptable vaccine for cattle. If the concern is protecting cattle, why not focus on the cattle instead of all the wildlife? * Ask the DOL why agents with no wildlife management experience are managing wild bison.
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* National and Local Media Coverage
A few weeks ago, we told you about NBC's recent visit to our cabin. They came on an intense hazing day, when a lone bull was chased for over three hours, only to escape back into the Park. We have since provided NBC with additional footage and updates, and there was an NBC affiliated reporter at the trap today in Gardiner. We have received word from our contact at NBC that the piece will air this Friday on NBC's Nightly News. Please watch and spread the word to others in your community and beyond.
In this time of intense bison management, we are seeing coverage in newspapers across the nation. If a paper in your area has run a buffalo story lately, we encourage you to do two things. First, please clip the article and send it to us here in West Yellowstone. Second, write a letter to the editor expressing your views on the current policy and possible solutions. In this way you can really help us in our efforts to keep this issue in focus for the rest of the nation and world.
If you would like to forward our press releases to your local media outlets, please do so. We can add you to our press release loop or send us contact information for media in your area.
Thanks!
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* Current Slaughter Threatens Survival of Entire Yellowstone Bison Herd
The Yellowstone bison population currently exists as an isolated "metapopulation". This is what population geneticists call a large population which consists of several smaller groups called "subpopulations" which interact with each other to some degree. Each subpopulation within the metapopulation can have it's own distinctive genetic structure which distinguishes it from the others. If individuals remain in their own respective subpopulation and do not mate with outside individuals, certain genes within the subpopulation become "fixed". In other words there is a loss of alternative genes through random mating and selection. This eventually leads to a loss of genetic variation in the subpopulation. If there is migration and mating of individuals at a moderate rate between the subpopulations, then genetic variation can be maintained throughout the entire metapopulation.
Genetic variation is critical to the long-term survival and evolutionary potential for any species or population. It can become decreased through isolation, inbreeding, and strong selective pressures such as environmental changes, diseases, or extensive mortality. Loss of genetic variability removes genes from the population that could enable certain individuals to survive a major event, reproduce, and pass on their genetic material to the next generation. Low genetic variability within an individual or population greatly reduces the ability to respond to a major disease event or adapt to changing environmental conditions. Ultimately this will drive them into an extinction vortex from which they might not recover. This has already occurred in many species who have disappeared from the globe.
The current "clear cut" style of removing bison from the Gardiner area poses a grave risk to the genetic integrity of the entire Yellowstone bison herd for a number of reasons. The really tragic part of this is that the subpopulation (northern herd) was nearly wiped out in 96/97. The current herd probably consists of remnant individuals and migrants from other adjacent subpopulations. Removal of a large number of individuals from only one subpopulation within a single region poses the risk of permanent loss of entire lineages, which could be irreplaceable.
If population control were truly necessary, then perhaps a scattered, random removal of individuals would be more conducive to maintaining genetic diversity. However, the carrying capacity for bison in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem has not been accurately established. Therefore the current population cap of 3000 is rather arbitrary and not representative of what the ecosystem can actually support. If the efficiency of bison grazing patterns and their remarkable ability to extract the most nutrition from the lowest quality forage is considered in conjunction with potential availability of public lands, this number should be much higher.
The cumulative effects of yearly removals of entire large groups of bison within an isolated population will certainly result in a steady erosion of the genetic integrity within this herd. This would be a national tragedy and will ultimately result in the demise of this valuable herd! We must urge our public officials to discontinue the slaughter of Yellowstone's bison in this manner. We cannot allow another repeat of the winter nightmare of 1996/97. It is key to the survival of this herd for future generations that this current removal operation is immediately put to an end. Prevention of any further herd reductions will ultimately contribute to the conservation of this herd and augment global biodiversity.
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* Exposing the Brucellosis Myth
The repeated contention by Montana ranchers and the Department of Livestock that Yellowstone bison are chronically infected with brucellosis and pose a threat to Montana cattle is grossly overstated and contrary to accepted science. Several studies done on captured and slaughtered Yellowstone bison indicate that while a large percentage have been exposed to brucellosis and carry antibodies for the disease, less than 20 percent were actually infected. The average age of infected animals was 2.34 years. Bison usually give birth in their second or third year. At this time, the NRAMP1 gene in the bison becomes active and purges the disease from their bodies. After birthing, the bison only carry antibodies for the disease. This is no different from a human carrying antibodies to the chicken pox after getting over the disease. Additionally, APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), the federal agency that determines a state's brucellosis class-free status, defines untested bulls, yearlings, calves, and females that have given birth as "low risk" for brucellosis transmission to domestic cattle. APHIS has stated that the presence of brucellosis in Yellowstone bison is not grounds for downgrading Montana's brucellosis class-free status. Montana is the only state in the country not to accept APHIS's "low risk" definition for wild bison.
For more information on brucellosis, visit our website:
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/politico/brucell.html----------------------------------
* Support Needed for Continued Buffalo Defense
We have set up a base camp in Gardiner, MT while maintaining our strength on the west side of the Park and on our legal, scientific and advocacy fronts. We have incurred non-budgeted expenses in these efforts to defend the last wild free roaming buffalo. If you can help with a donation - it would be very appreciated.
You can donate securely online at www.wildrockies.org/buffalo or send your donation to:
POB 957, West Yellowstone, MT 59758.
Let us know if you need a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.
We can't be here without you. Thanks so much to each and every one of you for your support of BFC and your efforts to speak on behalf of the buffalo!
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* Last Words
This week we hope that the "Last Words" will be yours when you voice
your concerns to the Park Service and the Department of Livestock.Buffalo Field Campaign
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(406) 646-0070
buffalo@wildrockies.org_____________________________