Conservationists Request Suspension of Mexican Wolf-Killing “Predator Control” Policy

This important story on the Mexican wolves is from Wild Again, the Sinapu blog.  The story has also been in a number of newspapers the last day or so.

 Conservationists Request Suspension of Mexican Wolf-Killing “Predator Control” Policy

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Local Papers Spin BFC Arrests, As Expected

Bay Area Indymedia has the following report in the BFC arrests. Local Papers Spin BFC Arrests, As Expected.

While I’ll post what the Montana media reports, I think we are going to have to rely on blogs to get at a lot of the facts, given the local domination of people and the media by the livestock politicians.

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Buffalo Field Campaign says volunteers wrongfully arrested

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Here is more about the arrest of two BFC volunteers who were filming Montana Department of Livestock’s pointless hazing of Yellowstone bison. If Brister’s account is true, it seems the livestock industry bureaucrats and their irregular police force are notching up the level of harassment. It could also be that MHP stumbled into the situation. It is typical, however, that lawless “law enforcement” generally likes to go after those with the cameras. RM

Note: this was written by Dan Brister.

On Wednesday, as I documented the harassment of hundreds of bison and newborn calves near the Madison River, I was tackled head-first into the gravel by a Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) officer, arrested on false charges, and had my video camera and tape confiscated.

I was out that afternoon, as my friends and I have been for hundreds of days during the past ten years, to document government actions against the Yellowstone bison, America’s only continuously wild herd. It was a particularly troubling day as more than 400 bison were being incessantly run for more than eight miles from National Forest lands to Yellowstone National Park. As you will read below, newborn calves and pregnant cow bison are the primary target of these operations and one newborn collapsed due to exhaustion and the inability to nurse while being pursued by the helicopter. In the past we’ve documented bison giving birth during the chaos of a haze, and newborns dying due to the incredible stress of running for miles without rest.

Writers on the Range. Balancing act: How development trumps conservation on our BLM land.

This issue of the popular on-going series was written by Ann J. Morgan. Balancing act: How development trumps conservation on our BLM land

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Police Bloody & Arrest Field Workers Filming Bison Haze On Public Lands

There has been a very unpleasant development near West Yellowstone where a massive show of force was used to haze bison back into the Park (to protect the non-existent cattle from brucellosis).

In doing so, the Buffalo Field Campaign, who instead deserves a paycheck from Montana Highway Patrol for trying to protect motorists from frightened bison running out of the forest across the highway (US 191) was instead denied their civil liberties and brutalized.

Here is the story in the Bozeman Chronicle by Scott McMillion.
Here is BFC’s news release.

It has been suggested I put a link to contact Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. Here it is.

Exclusive BFC Video & Photos Available Upon Request
For Immediate Release: May 9, 2007
Contact: Stephany Seay (406) 646-0070
Watch it on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/v/COEpF463PKQ

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA. Two members of the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) were arrested today Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) and U.S. Forest Service law enforcement. One BFC volunteer was taken to the hospital due to injuries caused during arrest.

Here Montana Highway Patrol and Forest Service make sure Dan Brister doesn’t take any more video

The volunteers were arrested for exercising their civil rights attempting to document today’s Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) bison hazing operations.

The first volunteer arrested had witnessed the DOL and other agents hazing wild bison across U.S. Highway 191. Highway patrols failed to warn motorists or shut down traffic. Chased by agents on horseback and a helicopter, another group of bison were close to crossing the road the BFC volunteer urged a Montana Highway Patrolman to shut down the highway and warn traffic. The MHP responded to the volunteer’s request by arresting him in the heated exchange.

The second BFC volunteer was arrested after attempting to document the first volunteer’s arrest. The MHP attempted to take the camera away and forcibly placed the volunteer into handcuffs, slammed him to the ground, injuring his face. U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer assisted the MHP officer with the arrests. The two arresting officers confiscated two Buffalo Field Campaign video cameras.

Last week, the same MHP officer was filmed being hostile and aggressive to BFC volunteers documenting a bison hazing operation along Hwy. 287. Video footage of this incident is available at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.

“Today’s arrests were completely without warrant,” said BFC volunteer Jessie Patterson who witnessed the arrests of both volunteers. “These officers acted in a violent way when the volunteers were well within their rights to document government actions on public lands.”

Government officials, including law enforcement, routinely attempt to prevent BFC from filming bison hazing operations.

Freelance photographer, Barbara Michelman, was on the scene of the arrests. A photo attached with this press release, or is immediately available by contacting BFC.

Last night, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks held a public meeting in West Yellowstone regarding Montana’s infamous bison hunt and the agency’s involvement in the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Many BFC members and residents of the community were present to voice their opposition to the current mismanagement of wild bison.

“The rights of American citizens are being infringed upon and today’s behavior is utterly unacceptable and will be challenged,” said BFC spokeswoman Stephany Seay. “Government agencies are ignoring the voice of the American people and acting as rogue entities who answer to no law but their own.”

The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL), Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and U.S.D.A. Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Gallatin County Sheriffs, and Montana Highway Patrols all participated in today’s bison hazing operation.

The government agents harassed approximately 400 members of the United State’s last wild herd of bison within the Gallatin National Forest today using horses and a helicopter. This is the bison’s calving season, a very sensitive time for the species. Pregnant bison and day-old newborns, as well as other bison, were run off of public land in an aggressive manner by agents on horseback and a DOL helicopter. Wild bison were forced for over eight miles from the northern tip of the Horse Butte Peninsula along the Madison River back towards Yellowstone National Park.

One baby bison fell injured and sick from the aggressive and relentless nature of today’s hazing operation. The protective mother was forced to charge a NPS hazer while he aggressively approached them as her baby buffalo was attempting to nurse. The bison, with numerous calves, were run for over 8 miles without rest, food or water.

Hazing bison off of public lands runs contrary to a November 2006 agreement signed by all Interagency Bison Management Plan officials, which is supposed to allow native wild bison access to public lands though May 15. This is the third time in three weeks that the IBMP agencies have ignored their agreement. The IBMP adaptations memorandum can be viewed at: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/legal/adaptivemanagement.html.

The purported reason for the government’s aggressive management of wild bison is the perceived threat of the cattle-born disease, brucellosis. There has never been a documented case of wild bison transmitting the European livestock disease brucellosis to livestock, even prior to implementation of Interagency Bison Management Plan.

American Bison once spanned the continent, numbering between 30 and 50 million. The Yellowstone bison are genetically unique and are America’s only continuously wild herd, numbering fewer than 3,600 animals, .01 percent of the bison’s former population.

1,912 bison have been killed since 2000 under the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Last winter Federal and State agencies killed or authorized the killing of more than 1,010 bison. So far this winter two bison were captured and sent to slaughter by Montana Department of Livestock agents and hunters have killed 58.

Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is the only group working in the field, every day, to stop the slaughter of the wild Yellowstone buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo and their native habitat and advocate for their lasting protection. BFC has proposed real alternatives to the current mismanagement of Yellowstone bison that can be viewed at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/solutions05.html. For more information, video clips and photos visit: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.

Someone ought to get this story up on Kos or Crooks and Liars because Kos, especially has lionized Montana Gov. Brian Sweitzer.

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