Buffalo Field Campaign Update
Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
February 21, 2008
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View BFC Video Footage:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
* NEW VIDEO! To Protect the Wild Bison
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/aboutus/documentaries.html
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Dear Buffalo Friends,
Last night, close to 8pm, after dinner and our general meeting, we
walked out of the warmth of the cabin into the frigid, clear night
air, down the snowy driveway to watch the total eclipse of the Moon.
She was so beautiful in her fullness, lighting up the white snow with
such brightness every move of your eye caused crystals to sparkle and
glitter. The full moon on a snowy landscape can make even the most
practical-minded believe in some kind of Magick. Slowly, the Moon's
glowing was eclipsed by the earth, her strong light fading with the
creeping of a red shadow moving across her pale face. I certainly
can't speak for everyone, but I think it's safe to say that, while
reveling in this celestial phenomenon, each of us couldn't help but
turn our thoughts to the blood of the buffalo being spilled all over
the winter landscape. Even the Moon reflects the season of buffalo
slaughter now full upon us.
Along the north boundary, near Gardiner, Yellowstone National Park
has captured and sent to slaughter 290 of America's last wild
buffalo. It is so hard to imagine the stress and horror these
buffalo go through as they are captured and separated from their
families by age and sex. Frightened, they run around in a panic,
goring each other as they try to find a way out of this thoughtless
prison. The sacred buffalo, being loaded onto livestock trailers and
hauled to the dark nightmare of the slaughter house, to be processed
and cut to pieces. How dare Yellowstone National Park condemn the
buffalo under their care to such a fate.
Here in West Yellowstone, Montana Department of Livestock (DOL)
agents have plowed the 610 Forest Service road that leads to the
Horse Butte trap site. This morning, patrols began witnessing the
livestock agents assembling the trap. According to the DOL, hazing,
capture and slaughter could begin any minute now. The buffalo
scattered throughout the Madison Valley and Horse Butte Peninsula are
doing the best they can just to survive the winter. Now their true
enemies are back in town ready to dominate the landscape and
terrorize every creature that lives here. There are never any cattle
on Horse Butte, at any time of year, so why must the DOL make a
presence here at all? Why don't they go to their precious feedlots
and cattle pastures and mind their widgets and leave the wild buffalo
alone?
All this killing and preparation for killing is happening while the
Nez Perce are engaging in their treaty hunt. Near Gardiner the
Yellowstone River divides the types of death the buffalo are dealt:
to the west, slaughter and to the east the hunt. But here along the
western boundary all these actions take place on the same landscape.
Will the DOL and other agencies haze and capture buffalo that the Nez
Perce are trying to hunt? What conflict will this incite? Already
on Horse Butte conflicts between Nez Perce hunters and state and
federal agents have taken place. Hunters are none too pleased to
know that a buffalo trap is being set up by the government while they
are trying to hunt buffalo; their treaty rights are being infringed
upon, to be sure. The response of the Nez Perce to these actions
remain to be seen, but things may heat up. Yesterday, on Horse
Butte, seven buffalo were taken by Nez Perce hunters; unfortunately,
they killed the buffalo in the middle of the bald eagle closure, an
area closed to all human activity from December through August to
protect nesting pairs of bald eagles. Their thinking was that this
area didn't apply to their treaty rights to hunt on the landscape.
While this violation is tragic, even more telling is how the Forest
Service immediately ticketed the Nez Perce, but have turned a blind
eye to white hunters who have also violated the closure, and have
practically ignored the hundreds of snowmobiles who have
disrespectfully trashed this protected area. It's selective law
enforcement, and the Forest Service even admits to it.
Either way, the buffalo lose. They are being killed by the hundreds.
More than 400 of the country's last wild buffalo have been killed
just because they stepped foot into or approached Montana's borders.
Always, the decision-makers try to justify their actions by touting
the threat of brucellosis. Yes, brucellosis is a threat, but not to
cattle. It is a threat to the buffalo because it is being used by
the government and cattle interests to keep wild American bison from
reclaiming their native, historic range. This is their land! It's
infuriating how the industry-backed media reports how these
mismanagement actions take place to prevent bison from transmitting
brucellosis to non-native cattle, when it is the cattle that infected
our native wildlife to begin with. And wild bison have never
transmitted this disease back to cattle. There are upwards of 100
million cows in the U.S., and wild American bison number fewer than
4,300 individuals. Brucellosis is an excuse that is being used to
control and kill wildlife, and give cattle interests dominion over
our national heritage - it's not just bison; it's elk and wolves and
bears and grasslands and water, and so much more. Cattle make the
land and the people sick. The cattle industry believes their profits
are more important than the health of the land, and has the
government's support in every possible way, using our tax dollars to
kill the buffalo.
Over the weekend we were blessed with a visit from BFC co-founder and
Lakota elder Rosalie Little Thunder. See below for a special message
from her. She, her sister Donna, and Donna's son Robert came to stay
with us and talk about how we can bring the Buffalo Culture tribes
together to make something happen for the buffalo. Rosalie reminded
us that, while we may feel that change seems to never be in site,
things are moving in a positive direction. It's like a pendulum, she
said, and it can only swing so far one way before it must start back
in the other direction. We are on the cusp of that counter swing.
Roam Free,
Gregor Gable
in BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN
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