DOL Captures Over 60 Buffalo on Horse Butte: 4 BFC Volunteers Illegally detained and 5 Arrested FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 1999 Media Contact: Jennifer Karinen, John Reese (406) 646-0070 WEST YELLOWSTONE- This morning the DOL hazed with snowmobiles and captured over 60 buffalo in their new capture facility on Horse Butte. Yesterday our volunteers counted 63 bison grazing on the spring exposed slopes next to the newly constructed buffalo trap on the Gallatin National Forest. Today's capture brings the total number of buffalo captured this year to over 100. Molly Karp, 17, of New York used handcuffs and James Blakely, 19, used a steel pipe lockbox to lock themselves to a cattle guard on Forest Service Road 610 in an attempt to prevent the capture of more buffalo on Horse Butte. Allison Lovejoy, 21, of Missoula, was arrested as she stood on the road and watched the arrest. Jeremy O'Day, 22, of Missoula, was arrested on Horse Butte as he drove a snowmobile. Robert Laitman was also arrested as he stood on the FS road 610. No charges have been brought at this time. More then twenty law enforcement officers from the DOL, Forest Service, Montana Highway Patrol, and Gallatin County Sheriff's office were on hand to assist with the capture operation. "Despite the inaccuracy of their testing process and the inability of these buffalo to transmit brucellosis, these agencies continue to waste taxpayer money on the capture and slaughter of America's last wild herd of buffalo," said Pete Leusch, Buffalo Field Campaign spokesperson. The U.S. Forest Service issued a warning to the Montana Department of Livestock this week for hazing buffalo in closed eagle habitat on March 31. Despite this warning, DOL agents entered these areas again today to round up buffalo. Along with being a key area in winter migration for Yellowstone bison, Horse Butte is critical habitat for threatened bald eagles. In an attempt to protect nesting sites the Forest Service added restrictions to the DOL's permit allowing them to operate their bison trap used to capture and test bison leaving Yellowstone National Park. This spring, hundreds of buffalo have left the park in search of forage after the long winter of deep snow. Horse Butte is critical winter range for the Yellowstone buffalo. Warm south-facing slopes of the Butte provide the most plentiful available forage for migrating buffalo. In a separate incident this morning at 2:15 a.m., as four Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers were walking in the Horse Butte area of the Gallatin National Forest, they were illegally detained by Department of Livestock agents. One volunteer, Zacharie Quin, age 25, was tackled, yelled at with obscene language, and forced to the ground by DOL agents although he did nothing to resist arrest. After being detained for over an hour Quin was cited and released. He was told he would be formally charged with conspiracy to engage in a possibly violent protest and trespassing. After being questioned and photographed by Rob Burns, Gallatin County Sheriff, all 4 were released. "When I asked what I was being charged with, a DOL officer said, 'doing stuff in that road'. I informed him truthfully that I had not done anything in 'that road'. I obviously could not have done anything as I had not been able to go down the road, due to being tackled," Quin said. Tuesday DOL Hazing Operation Foiled Two DOL agents on snowmobiles fired cracker barrel shots frightening four buffalo out of Red Canyon and down Highway 287 towards their Duck Creek Facility at 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Twelve activists from the Buffalo Field Campaign were at the scene and responded quickly when bison jumped off the road and ran up a hill into U.S. Forest Service land. Activists put themselves between the buffalo and the snowmobiles preventing the DOL from chasing the bison back to the highway. They shepherded the buffalo into a wooded area where the snowmobiles could not follow. Not long after the DOL agents left with a sheriff and a U.S. forest service official who were also at the scene. Video Footage Available upon Request. Scanned still photos available from our website, www.wildrockies.org/buffalo Buffalo Field Campaign (formerly Buffalo Nations) PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 phone 406-646-0071 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.wildrockies.org/buffalo ******************************************************************** ______________________________________ Appeals court asked to halt Yellowstone bison slaughter April 14, 1999 Environmentalists say Montana, Park Service violating wildlife management law By Aviva L. Brandt Associated Press SEATTLE - Environmentalists asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to stop the state of Montana from slaughtering bison as they leave Yellowstone National Park in search of winter forage. At issue are joint management plans of the state and the National Park Service that are intended to prevent the animals from spreading a disease harmful to cattle. Montana and the Park Service contend that bison migrating from the park often must be killed to prevent the spread of brucellosis, which can cause cows to abort and, in rare cases, result in a recurring fever in humans. But conservation groups and an Indian tribal organization argue that the risk of transmission of the disease is extremely low. Their lawsuit also contends the plan, which includes bison-capture facilities on the park's borders, violates federal law that requires natural management of wildlife in Yellowstone. About 1,100 park bison were shot or shipped to slaughter under the interim plan in the winter of 1996 to prevent the animals from reaching Montana cattle grazing pastures. About half of the Yellowstone bison test positive for exposure to brucellosis, though there is debate over how many actually are infectious. This winter and the previous one were mild, so few bison tried to leave the park, said James Angell, a lawyer for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, one of the conservation groups that filed the lawsuit. About 50 bison were killed this winter and last, he said. Whether bison are likely to transmit the disease to cattle is an unresolved part of the bison management debate. "Do you agree that controlling brucellosis is a serious matter that has serious consequences for people raising cattle in Montana?" Judge Harry Pregerson asked. "No bison has ever passed the disease. If it was passed, it would lead to the control of that particular cattle herd. But again, it has never happened," Angell replied. John Bloomquist, a lawyer for the state of Montana, told the three-judge panel that the state considers the risk of brucellosis to remain serious. He credited the state's stringent measures for preventing the disease from becoming a danger to the state's cattle industry. "Transmission has not occurred in the wild, and many believe that's because of the control efforts," he said. Andrew Mergen of the Justice Department told the judges that the government has spent $1 billion to eradicate brucellosis, which has been virtually eliminated everywhere but among Yellowstone National Park bison. He defended the bison plan as reasonable because it offers a "balance of some capture, some slaughter and some tolerance." A ruling by the 9th Circuit panel could take several months. April 14, 1999 ___________________________________________________________ Please take 20 seconds and add your voice to those who speak FOR THE BUFFALO! http://www.wildrockies.org/buffpet _____________________________________________ we have posted new video clips for an "in the field" look at the buffalo and their plight with the Montana Department of Livestock Please stop by and see it! http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo List-Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] News Submissions or Problems: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************
