Protecting Bison
Litigation - Article Series: from All-Creatures.org Articles Archive

FROM

Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF)
February 2016

We suspect that access to the slaughter is denied to journalists and activists because if ordinary people found out about this cruel and unnecessary practice, they would not stand for it. Our hope is that through this lawsuit we can show taxpayers how their dollars are being spent to harm animals. Through exposing this wasteful spending, our aim is to ultimately stop the practice of regularly killing bison in the park.

bison

We filed a new lawsuit to expose the senseless slaughter of Bison in Yellowstone Park, immediately increasing public awareness of the cull. [For more, visit Buffalo Field Campaign.]

Our new case against Yellowstone Park is already making an impact. Our January 26 filing generated multiple stories in the press and a groundswell of public outrage. We are representing Journalist Chris Ketcham and bison advocate Stephany Seay, and our legal argument is that because these individuals would be barred from entering the park to document the slaughter of these bison, their First Amendment rights are being violated.

This case is a great example of how we must sometimes creatively leverage the rights of humans to gain a foothold for a legal argument that would expand the rights of animals. We suspect that access to the slaughter is denied to journalists and activists because if ordinary people found out about this cruel and unnecessary practice, they would not stand for it. Our hope is that through this lawsuit we can show taxpayers how their dollars are being spent to harm animals. Through exposing this wasteful spending, our aim is to ultimately stop the practice of regularly killing bison in the park.


FROM Buffalo Field Campaign:

NEWS: U.S. District Court to Hear Arguments for Preliminary Injunction
For immediate release:
February 1, 2016

Contact:
Natalia Lima, [email protected], 201 679 7088

Casper, WY – Journalist Chris Ketcham and media coordinator with Buffalo Field Campaign Stephany Seay will have their first day in court on Friday, February 5, when the United States District Court in Casper, Wyoming hears arguments for a preliminary injunction to halt the planned Yellowstone National Park bison cull. The capture and kill operation is scheduled to start February 15.

Ketcham and Seay are seeking access to the controversial bison trapping operations that lead to the slaughter of hundreds of bison. During the capture and kill operation, the Park Service closes parts of the park to public access. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, argues that the First Amendment guarantees citizens and journalists reasonable, non-disruptive access to the publicly funded national park. The court will decide their First Amendment claims separately.

“This court order is necessary to protect Stephany’s and Chris’s constitutional rights while the case is pending or until full and reasonable access to observe the cull can be granted,” said Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) attorney Stefanie Wilson. “Given accounts of brutality during past culls, it is the public’s right to know what is happening to the cherished Yellowstone bison.”

Ketcham and Seay are represented by the ALDF, University of Denver constitutional law professors, and Jamie M. Woolsey of the private Wyoming law firm Fuller, Sandefer & Associates, L.L.C.

Copies of the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction and the brief in support are available upon request.

About ALDF: The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) was founded in 1979 to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. To accomplish this mission, ALDF files high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm; provides free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are punished for their crimes; supports tough animal protection legislation and fights harmful legislation; and provides resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law. 

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