Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Nightline piece on BFC will air Wednesday 2/23 at 8:00 p.m.
A&E piece on BFC will air on Thursday 2/24 at 9:00 p.m.
Check local listings for the air times in your area.

Despite the fact that there is only one buffalo outside of Yellowstone National Park, things have been very busy here at the Buffalo Field Campaign. In the past two weeks, the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) has tried to haze the old bull four times without success, chasing him from snowmobiles and snowshoes, firing cracker-barrel rounds at him from shotguns, and generally harassing the bull in an attempt to force him back to the park. The buffalo has been grazing for the past few weeks in a meadow on the Gallatin National Forest.

The ostensible reason for the harassment, which is funded with tax dollars, is the state's fear that the bull could pass brucellosis to cattle. But there won't be cattle on these national forest lands until the middle of June. Even if there were, a bull buffalo would have to mate with a domestic cow in order to pass the bacteria. Buffalo don't mate with livestock. Even the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the federal agency with the power to declare a state "brucellosis free" has publicly stated that the presence of the bull poses no threat to Montana's brucellosis free status. Yet the state insists on needlessly harassing the lone bull.

Nightline, who was here shooting film for an investigative piece on the Yellowstone buffalo, had their cameras rolling as the DOL tried for the second time to haze the bull. Their footage of the operation, along with film shot by our volunteers over the years, will air on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. The Nightline crew spent several days with us, accompanying our patrols in the field and attending our nightly meetings. In addition to the Nightline piece, A&E will be airing an investigative report on our work and the Yellowstone bison situation on Thursday, February 24, at 9:00 p.m.

---

On a personal note...

---

We'd like to thank all the folks who have done presentations at camp. Thanks to the 1st aiders, to Flo for her brucellosis/native american insights and to Doug Peacock and Greg Keeler, who entertained us this past Saturday night with a special evening of grizzly bear stories and activist campfire songs. It was great to come in from patrol and share our cabin with people whose work has inspired us so much over the years.

A big thanks to the many folks whose continued support makes our work possible. Without you there would be no Buffalo Field Campaign.