Volunteers Needed...Buffalo Nations Field Update 12/7/98
*Call for Prayer * 12/4 Press Release
If you can't make it to camp...give us a holler and we'll find something else you can help with!
Thanks to AWR for the food drive they are doing for the Buffalo Nations field camp!!
Buffalo Nations urgently needs volunteers, as more than 100 buffalo have left the park. The snow is flying and piling up, and temperatures are dropping. If you have the desire to come and work in the field to save the buffalo for any amount of time: a weekend, a week, or more, please call or e-mail Buffalo Nations for an update and information on getting down to West Yellowstone as soon as you can.
Buffalo Nations has been conducting daily patrols since mid-November, and the Montana Department of Livestock has been out trying to haze the buffalo back into Yellowstone for as long. The buffalo have been steadily moving across the safety of Yellowstone Park's boundary. Yesterday, Buffalo Nations volunteers were out on the highway making sure a herd of at least 40 buffalo safely crossed the road, as they moved to their wintering grounds. Volunteers warned traffic to slow down for the animals and kept cars from running into the buffalo as they crossed the road.
If you are interested in coming to West Yellowstone to help out, please contact our volunteer coordinator, Sarah Chalmers for more information.
We also are looking for donations of food, radio/camera equipment, cold weather gear, and lots of good thoughts! If you know anyone who can help please let us know.
Buffalo Nations
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070 phone
406-646-0071 fax
buffalo@wildrockies.org
Department of Livestock Actions Fail to Protect Yellowstone Bison
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 1998 Media Contacts: Sue Nackoney, Mike Bowersox (406) 646-0070
WEST YELLOWSTONE: Today the Department of Livestock agents on horseback fired crackerbarrels and chased 11 buffalo from the Bear Trap housing area for about two miles and back into Yellowstone Park.
They then hazed approximately 16 more buffalo from fields adjacent to the park boundary. Most of these buffalo were bulls. These buffalo have been outside of the park and in the housing area almost continuously for the last two weeks.
Buffalo Nations volunteers have observed that buffalo who were hazed back to the park during past DOL operations always return to the same areas by the next day, even when the areas are two miles out of the park.
"The Department of Livestock continues to claim they are saving the buffalo by hazing them back into the park. But, these same buffalo will continue to come out of the park to their traditional winter forge grounds regardless of where the DOL tries to make them go," stated Mike Bowersox of Buffalo Nations. "However, as the snow accumulates, continual hazing stresses the buffalo unnecessarily and increases the potential for winterkill."
According to the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, bulls, yearlings, calves and non-pregnant bison are considered "low risk" for brucellosis transmission. APHIS has stated that the presence of these animals in the state is not sufficient cause for revocation of Montana's brucellosis-free status.
"The actions of the DOL just don't make any sense," stated Sue Nackoney of Buffalo Nations. "Why aren't better solutions being discussed, solutions that take a scientific approach to disease management and a realistic look at the non-existant potential for these bison to ever transmit brucellosis to cattle."
Cattle do not return to the West Yellowstone area until June. There are no cattle nor grazing allotments in the Bear Trap housing area or in the fields adjacent to the park where buffalo were hazed today.