Entries in BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN (5)
Stop the Slaughter
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Gregor Gable
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BISON ADVOCATE FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM PROTEST PLATFORM
For Immediate Release, February 27, 2008
Contact: Buffalo Field Campaign, Nathan Drake or Stephany Seay 406-646-0070
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA - The man who perched upon a platform suspended from the top of a pair of poles on public land inside the Horse Butte bison trap in protest of bison slaughter, Nathan Drake, 26, was forcibly removed and arrested Monday night by state and federal agents. He was charged with three misdemeanors: obstruction, trespassing, and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bail, reportedly the highest yet for bison-related direct action protest.
Montana Department of Livestock agents, Gallatin National Forest law enforcement and a Gallatin County sheriff were present and participated in the removal of the citizen.
"The agents who made their way up to my perch with an eighty foot cherry picker were unconcerned with my safety," said Nathan. "They cut my sleeping bag that was my protection from the Montana winter, took off my boots and threw them to the ground, attempting to freeze me out of my lock box. The sheriff and Forest Service agent cut my safety line, attached me to the cherry-picker bucket and threw me in it."
Exclusive Buffalo Field Campaign video footage of Nathan's protest and subsequent removal and arrest can be viewed at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
During the ordeal, Nathan maintained non-violent, non-threatening behavior, however the officers involved in extracting him from the bipod used considerable force and pain compliance to remove him from his position.
"They nearly broke my arms while descending with me. I was still attached by my lock box to a leg of the bipod," said Nathan. "I was screaming in excruciating pain, and I looked down to see Montana DOL agent Shane Grube laughing at my plight and continuing to offer suggestions that would grossly endanger my life and the lives of the agents who were throwing me against the bucket of the cherry picker over and over."
Forty-five minutes into their attempt to cut Nathan out of the lock box with a pipe cutter, they tossed him to the ground. Five agents then picked up one leg of the bipod, which was precariously balanced, risking Nathan's life, where they attempted to pull him out from underneath it.
"It was indeed the scariest moment of my life," said Nathan.
Nathan occupied the Horse Butte bison trap, effectively rendering it inoperable for 15 hours, in protest of the continued capture and slaughter of the United State's last wild population of American bison. He took this direct action because of the tens of thousands of citizens who, for years, have protested the slaughter of wild bison yet have been completely ignored by decision-makers involved with the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Public officials are adhering only to Montana cattle interests.
"I risked life and freedom on behalf of the thousands of frustrated people fed up with this government and their full tilt assault on the last wild bison," said Nathan. "I know full well that the frustration felt in me was echoed with the tens of thousands of people who called, wrote and petitioned the government to voice their concerns for these amazing animals; concerns that repeatedly fall upon deaf ears."
As of Wednesday, in contrast to the public interest, Yellowstone National Park and the Montana Department of Livestock have collectively captured nearly 600 wild American bison, and have already sent 437 to slaughter. None of the bison have been, or will be tested for exposure to brucellosis, the supposed reason for the severe management actions.
While the government's official reason for the slaughter is to prevent the spread of brucellosis from wild bison to cattle, no such transmission has ever been documented. Because there are no cattle on any part of the Horse Butte Peninsula at any time of the year, such a transmission is impossible and Montana's intolerance for bison in the area unjustifiable.
More than 2,500 wild American bison have been killed or otherwise removed from the remaining wild population since 2000 under actions carried out under 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.
Gregor Gable
in BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN
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"I called, I wrote, and no response...This is my response."
CITIZEN TAKES ACTION TO SHUT DOWN BISON TRAP
"I called, I wrote, and no response...This is my response."
Contact: Buffalo Field Campaign, Stephany Seay or Mike Mease 406-646-0070
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA - An unidentified man has made it impossible for Montana Department of Livestock agents to capture bison in the recently erected Horse Butte bison trap. The man is perched upon a platform suspended from the top of a pair of poles that are standing on end and anchored to the walls of the trap. A large banner hanging from the platform reads, "I called, I wrote, and no response...This is my response." Photos of the blockade are available here: http://gallery.buffalofieldcampaign.org/v/da/My_Response_HB_2-08.jpg.html
According to a statement made by the man occupying the platform, "Until bison management in Montana is guided by sound science and fiscal responsibility with input from every interested party, I choose this stance. In the past few years I have tried every conceivable method of redress. I have written, I have called, and I have gotten absolutely no response. I have nothing left but to put my own life and freedom on the line. The bison are that important."
2,336 wild American bison have been killed or otherwise removed from the remaining wild population since 2000 under actions carried out under 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.
Gregor Gable
in BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN
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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
------------------------------
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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Yellowstone NP Slaughters 37 Wild American Bison
* PRESS RELEASE*
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK SLAUGHTERS 37 OF AMERICA'S LAST WILD BUFFALO
For Immediate Release, February 11, 2008
Contact: Buffalo Field Campaign, Stephany Seay 406-646-0070
GARDINER, MONTANA - Yellowstone National Park officials sent 37 wild American bison to slaughter this morning, without testing them for exposure to brucellosis, the supposed reason for these actions.
On Sunday, the Park captured 41 bison; on Friday the Park captured 53, bringing the total capture since Friday to 94 wild American bison.
17 bison calves that tested negative for brucellosis exposure are being held in the Stephens Creek bison trap, and will be sent to the Corwin Springs quarantine feasibility research facility, where they will be raised in pens like livestock.
"The actions of Yellowstone National Park demonstrate that they are unqualified to protect the bison the nation is entrusting them with," said Stephany Seay, Media Coordinator for Buffalo Field Campaign.
These bison are members of the last wild, genetically intact population living in the United States, and number fewer than 4,600. Most of those captured, 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," said Seay, "These bison are our national heritage, a keystone species critical to the ecological health of native grasslands."
The bison were captured for following their natural migratory instincts and walking onto or near 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.
Federal and State actions serving Montana's cattle interests are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of wild bison this year and the death toll is likely to rise significantly. Tribal treaty hunts are also underway. Bison killed or otherwise removed from the last wild population during the winter of 2007-2008:
Montana and Treaty Bison Hunts: 112
NPS Captured (to be slaughtered/quarantined): 94
This season's harsh winter is also starting to take a toll on wild bison, who are finding it more difficult and sometimes impossible to crater through the snow to get to critical forage for survival. Snow banks from highway snowplowing around the West Yellowstone area are making the bison's migration extremely difficult. Bison are getting trapped along highway 191 and motor-collision mortalities are resulting.
2,158 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.
Gregor Gable
in BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN
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