Yellowstone Park Captures 89 Buffalo and Slaughters 53
For America's only continuously wild buffalo, Yellowstone National Park is no longer a sanctuary. Park employees, under pressure from the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL), have been busy this week capturing buffalo and sending them to slaughter. In the past five days, Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers have documented the capture of 89 buffalo in Yellowstone. Fifty-three were handed over to the DOL and shipped to slaughter. Twenty-four yearlings and calves were vaccinated with an ineffective brucellosis vaccine developed for cattle and ear-tagged as if they were livestock. Those twenty-four, along with another twelve, will be held in confinement until spring. All of this is occurring within the borders of the world's first national park by an agency mandated to protect the buffalo "unimpaired for future generations." It is being paid for with your tax dollars.
Yellowstone is the only place in America where buffalo have been living in the wild since the days when more than 30 million roamed the North American mountains and prairies. Twenty-three individual buffalo survived the 19th century eradication by taking refuge in Yellowstone's remote Pelican Valley. Over the course of the 20th century buffalo numbers rebounded, and their future seemed secure. In recent years, however, a campaign driven by the hysteria of Montana's livestock industry and fueled with pseudo-science has placed the herd's future in jeopardy once more.
The 24 young buffalo that were vaccinated this week are part of an experiment. The livestock vaccine they were given, RB51, does not work in buffalo.
On Tuesday BFC volunteers joined members of the media for a tour of the Stephens Creek trap and to document the testing process. What we witnessed was horrifying. Buffalo, who are unaccustomed to confinement, were inhumanely closed in tight pens, where their fear was translated into uncharacteristic aggressive behavior toward one another. One young female suffered numerous injuries after being repeatedly gored by her terrified herd-mates.
These are crisis times for Yellowstone, its wild creatures, and anyone who cares about them. The supposed stewards of America's wildlife icons are more interested in doing the bidding of the Montana livestock industry than they are in the will of the American people. Take action today to stop the slaughter. Call Yellowstone National Park and let them know how you feel about this week's buffalo slaughter.
Superintendent Suzanne Lewis: (307) 344-2002; email yell_superintendent@nps.gov
Yellowstone Office of Public Affairs (307) 344-2013