From Buffalo Field Campaign -
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As we skied along the Madison River yesterday morning
searching for four bison in the dawn's mist we tried to make ourselves
ready for another hectic day of hazing and capture. At least seven
Department of Livestock (DOL) agents had arrived in town the previous
afternoon. After the past two weeks, when 17 bison were captured and 12
slaughtered, we were becoming used to the patterns of the DOL.
My patrol-mates were Marco, a volunteer who traveled all
the way from Germany to help the buffalo; Chris, a research scientist
who has grown accustomed to extreme winter conditions after conducting
research in the frigid waters of Antarctica; and Mike, who helped to
form the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) in 1997. As we skied west along
the river away from the park we were happy to find an old bull--we'd
affectionately named him Houdini for his amazing ability to escape the
DOL--on his way up the trail toward the park. Mike and Marco stayed with
him to see that he crossed the highway safely while Chris and I made our
way for the meadow a few miles down river.
The sun was climbing from behind the horizon when we
reached the meadow and discovered three large bulls, their brown coats
frosted white, lying beside a small tributary. (These were the same
animals that, two weeks earlier, had wandered into the park hours before
the DOL capture operation began and came back out the day the DOL left
town.) Chris and I were with them about twenty minutes when the first
one stood and shook his shaggy coat. The crystal rattling of ice filled
the quiet morning as chunks of ice fell off his back. After a while he
meandered across the tributary and into the woods, followed by his two
friends.
Mike and Marco radioed from the highway to tell us that
Houdini had gone into the park and to ask our location so they could
meet up with us. Our two-way FM radios allow all the patrols to be in
contact with one another and with the office. A car patrol at Duck Creek
watches DOL headquarters and alerts the other patrols when the agents
head into the field on their snowmobiles or when the helicopter takes to
the air. Without the radios patrols would lack coordination and
volunteers would have no forewarning of the DOL's arrival. Radios also
allow our media coordinator to know what is happening in the field so he
can write accurate and timely press releases.
By the time Mike and Marco had reached us, we were a
little relieved. Duck Creek patrol had just contacted us to say all was
quiet with the DOL. We built a fire on the edge of the meadow and shared
stories. A bald eagle soared directly above us. Marco gave us a lesson
in German. At 10 am we heard over the radio that two agents had left DOL
headquarters and were headed our way. Marco and I went to check on the
bison and found only two. A fresh set of tracks headed east and we
decided to follow. We radioed Mike and Chris to tell them to
keep an eye on the two in the meadow while we went to find the lone
bull.
After skiing east a mile and a half we got our first
glimpse of him, wading in the river and nibbling tufts of grass from the
exposed banks. He stayed in the river for a few hundred yards, slowly
making his way to the park. A quarter mile from the boundary he swam
across the Madison, coming less than twenty yards from a small flock of
trumpeter swans. We watched as one of the swans took to the air above
the bull. I tried to call to our "Rove" patrol and tell them to be ready
to warn passing motorists of the bison's approach but because of a
problem with their radio they couldn't hear me. Luckily no cars were
coming when the bull hauled his body from the river, crossed the
highway, and disappeared into the park. Not thirty seconds later the two
agents came whizzing by on their snowmobiles, oblivious to the fact that
the bull had just crossed.
We turned around and followed our tracks back to our
friends in the meadow. We hadn't been there long when the DOL agents
arrived. Rob Tierney, the agent in charge of the DOL's bison operations
stopped by our fire and made small talk. He told us they had no plans to
capture this week. He kept to his word yesterday and we enjoyed our
first peaceful Wednesday in three weeks. As I sit in the office writing
this week's update the quiet on the radio makes me believe this may be a
safe week for America's last wild bison.
For more information, check the following website often:
Buffalo Field Campaign
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/
Go on to Endless
Lesson
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