And now:Sonja Keohane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Montana DOL must think that the rest of the country are a bunch of
idiots. Animals that have migrated in a certain pattern for hundreds of
years cannot be "hazed" away from what their instinct tells them to do...
<http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm>
CORRAL GATE OPENED
Idaho man charged in bison release
Suspect is member of Buffalo Nations
By JOE KOLMAN
Gazette Bozeman Bureau
WEST YELLOWSTONE - The war over wandering Yellowstone National Park bison
escalated to another level Thursday with the arrest of an Idaho man who
released a bison from a state corral.
Peter Leusch of Driggs, Idaho, a member of the Buffalo Nations group, was
arrested Thursday morning after he entered a state capture facility at Duck
Creek, opened a gate and allowed one of the 11 bison in the pen to escape.
The charge against Leusch was not immediately available, but a press
release issued by the group said he posted a $300 bond and is to be
arraigned in Gallatin County Justice Court.
Wednesday was the first time this winter that the capture facility at Duck
Creek has been used. A capture facility near Horse Butte is under
construction. State officials have said they would resort to capturing
bison and testing them for the disease brucellosis only when snow depth and
ground conditions make it impossible to haze the animals back into the park.
Captured bison that test positive for exposure to brucellosis are shipped
to slaughter. So far this winter, the Department of Livestock says agents
have hazed 500 bison back into the park. Brucellosis, which causes cows to
abort their young, is carried by some bison. The Livestock Department and
the state's cattle producers are wary that the disease could be passed from
bison to cattle, although a case has not been documented, and there are no
cattle in the West Yellowstone area during the winter.
But members of Buffalo Nations, volunteers committed to preventing bison
deaths, say the state's hazing is baseless and actually harms the animals,
which repeatedly return to grazing areas outside of the park only to be
hazed again.
On Wednesday, DOL agents hazed 24 bison back into the park, but by Thursday
morning, many of them had left Yellowstone again. Buffalo Nations said in a
press release that its members hazed 10 bison back into the park.
Eleven other bison were captured in the Duck Creek pen, which Leusch
entered and opened a gate, releasing one of the animals.
While the group called Leusch's actions a "rescue," the Livestock
Department said that if the bison had tested negative for brucellosis, it
could have been released and protected.
"It is very unfortunate and frustrating to know that these actions are
likely only to increase the number of bison that we can't protect this
winter," said Marc Bridges, the department's acting director.
Buffalo Nations members have vowed to continue to interfere with the bison
management plan agreed to by both federal and state governments.
"The capture, hazing or shooting of buffalo in the West Yellowstone area is
completely ludicrous," Leusch said in a statement Thursday. "This operation
by the state and cooperating federal agencies is nothing short of a waste
of taxpayer money and slaughter of one of our national treasures, the last
wild herd of buffalo."
Further actions by the group will likely lead to more arrests, said Arnold
Gertonson, the state veterinarian.
"They will be dealt with appropriately by law enforcement," Gertonson said.
