Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

WEST YELLOWSTONE - This evening at 6:30 p.m. as four Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers walked alongside four buffalo in the Horse Butte area of the Gallatin National Forest, they were arrested by Department of Livestock agents. One volunteer, Pete Leusch, age 32, of Driggs, Idaho, was tackled and forced to the ground by a DOL agent although he did nothing to resist arrest. Daniel Brister, age 29, a graduate student at the University of Montana in Missoula, was arrested after he videotaped the arrests of the other volunteers and attempted to leave with permission of the law enforcement. Jesse Haag, 17, and Michael Mease, 36, were also arrested after Pete Leusch was tackled.

Jesse Haag was cited and released in West Yellowstone. He is charged with obstructing a peace officer. The other three were arrested and taken to Gallatin County Jail in Bozeman. Their charges have not yet been released. They are being held in jail overnight.

The four bull buffalo had walked for over 10 miles from inside Yellowstone Park at Duck Creek during the day. Volunteers had monitored their movements and walked with them during their entire journey to Horse Butte.

"This afternoon I was with those same buffalo for a few hours, on the same National Forest. When I was at the arrest, I told the police that I had been shepherding those buffalo earlier and had not been arrested, so why were they arresting these people for doing the same thing?" stated Marcus Baker, Buffalo Field Campaign volunteer.

"It's bad enough that the DOL is spending half a million dollars on their new capture facility, but now they have to waste more tax dollars arresting people for doing nothing more than taking a walk in their National Forest? The policies of bison management are becoming more ludicrous all the time," stated Sue Nackoney, Buffalo Field Campaign spokesperson.

Earlier today, Department of Livestock, Gallatin County, Highway Patrol, Fish Wildlife and Parks, and US Forest Service officials arrested two volunteers for occupying a tripod blockade on Forest Service road 610 in order to stop the construction of a new capture facility. The blockade has been entirely removed, and plowing of the road 610 is almost complete. Construction of the facility has not begun yet.

Sue Nackoney and Mike Mease can be contacted by way of the following phone number. (406) 646-0070

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