It's been another crazy week for
Yellowstone's wild bison. Yesterday the Department of Livestock (along
with the Forest Service, Park Service, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and
Parks, and local law enforcement) mounted multiple hazing operations in
the area, pushing pregnant bison and newborn calves from national
forests with no cattle present. The DOL helicopter returned, filling the
skies with noise and disturbing all sorts of wildlife, especially
waterfowl like blue herons, pelicans, and eagles. The chopper dropped
down to treetop level while hazing bison inside the Park, even breaking
branches on trees. The helicopter pushed bison near Fir Ridge miles back
into the Park before assisting the crew of agents on ATV's and horseback
to flush out other wild bison near the Madison River. Many bison were
lost in the woods by sloppy hazing efforts that succeeded mostly in
stressing calves and pregnant buffalo. At one point the DOL decided to
use their helicopter to haze an injured or birthing cow buffalo already
inside the Park that had collapsed from exhaustion from the haze. The
chaos of the day was perhaps best illustrated when one DOL agent nearly
shot another with a cracker round, and then another DOL agent nearly
shot their helicopter with a cracker round.
Our patrols, however, were everywhere at
once, documenting the chaos. Not only were we able to track multiple
hazes, but we brought a German television camera crew into the field and
a group of students from Seattle. The German television crew is
producing a documentary that will include the Yellowstone bison issue.
The students were visiting after studying the issue in their class. The
mixing of the two elements kept the DOL guessing. Picture the scene -- a
yellow school bus and other cars gathered on Horse Butte, students and
teachers asking tough questions to the agents in the field, an obvious
outside media presence capturing the action on film, while the DOL
forced a herd of over 50 bison and at least 15 calves past the onlookers
with just a few yards separation.
Today, the DOL and crew are at it again.
The helicopter is once again terrorizing the skies around Yellowstone
and more calves and their mothers are being disturbed on public lands
with no cattle present. Early reports indicate that more bison have been
lost in the woods during hazing efforts, but at least three buffalo and
a moose have been pushed across the highway so far. They are currently
rounding up about a dozen buffalo and a calf on Horse Butte. Hopefully,
the circus will leave soon and give the wildlife a rest.
Today is May 15, the "zero tolerance"
date for wild bison outside of Yellowstone National Park, according to
the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Although the plan is an "adaptive
management" plan which allows for discretion to be applied in hazing
bison back into the Park before May 15, after today the plan calls for
bison to be "captured or shot to ensure none remain outside the Park in
the western boundary area during the applicable temporal separation
period." Who knows if the fact that the grazing allotments on national
forest on Horse Butte have been canceled will make a difference? So far
the DOL and Forest Service have been hiding behind the private property
excuse, and nobody knows if the Munns family plans to bring cattle to
their private ranch on Horse Butte this June. As always, we will keep
you informed of any moves made against the last herd of wild bison in
America.
Thank you once again for your continuing
support for the Yellowstone bison. Hopefully we will make it through
these last tense weeks before the bison naturally return to the Park
with no more bloodshed.
For the buffalo,
Ted Fellman
BFC Media
www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
Go on to Goodbye
Scooter by Dr. Steve Best
Return to 18 May 2003 Issue
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