"the People's Paths!" NAIIP News Path - DOL Capture 29 Buffalo at Horse Butte

DOL Capture 29 Buffalo at Horse Butte

by Sue Nackoney & Mike Mease
Buffalo Field Campaign
Saturday, April 3, 1999

Department of Livestock Hazes Illegally: 29 Buffalo Captured in New Horse Butte Trap. Two Volunteers Arrested. Volunteers liberate 5 buffalo from Duck Creek Trap.

WEST YELLOWSTONE - Horse Butte Capture Facility Operation Begins Before 7:00 a.m. this morning, March 31, the Department of Livestock agents on nine snowmobiles chased 20 buffalo from the hillside of Horse Butte and trapped them in their new capture facility. By 8:00 a.m. DOL had chased 9 more buffalo from the mouth of the Madison River into the trap. Buffalo were loaded into horse trailers and transported to the Duck Creek capture facility for testing.
One volunteer locked her neck to the cattle guard with a bike lock in order to stop transportation of the captive buffalo to the Duck Creek capture facility for testing. She was cut free and arrested. Her name is unavailable for release. Another volunteer was arrested at the Duck Creek capture facility in an attempt to lock the gates to the facility shut to prevent buffalo from being loaded from the trailers into the facility. His name was not available at the time of release.
Last night, March 30, volunteers released 5 buffalo from the Duck Creek capture facility, which is located 50 feet from the boundary of Yellowstone Park. The buffalo liberators were able to escort the freed buffalo to safety without any arrests.
Illegal Hazing Operations within Bald Eagle Nesting Protected Area Hazing buffalo off designated trails within 1/4 mile of an active bald eagle nest site violates guidelines that protect the nest site. DOL snowmobiles were documented as they drove up and down the hill off-trail hazing buffalo into the facility. The Hebgen Lake Ranger District of the Forest Service was not informed of these off-trail hazing activities according to Gene Hardin, the Forest Service official available this morning. The DOL is required to ask the Forest Service for permission to break their restrictions on off- trail hazing. Gallatin County Sheriff Officer with badge #637 and other officers who were on site watched the DOL haze buffalo within the eagle closure but did not enforce the closure.
Hazing on the Madison River before 10:00 a.m. violates the guidelines for hazing set out by the permit. Activities associated with the removal of bison that occur within 1/4 mile of open water on the Madison arm and upper Madison river will only be permitted between 10:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. in order to protect the 1/2 mile radius around a bald eagle nest.
Fish Wildlife and Parks biologists who are monitoring the bald eagle nest which is located within 1/4 mile of the capture facility have documented that the nest is active. Two other active bald eagle nest sites are on the Butte. Department of Livestock operations in the area are required to follow a set of restrictions on hazing near the three nest sites and eagle feeding areas on the Butte. Examples of restrictions are that the DOL must receive the approval of the Forest Service prior to any hazing activities within 1/4 mile of one of the nests.
"Obviously when the DOL decides they want to kill buffalo, all protections for other wildlife fall to the wayside. The DOL has no incentive to care for wildlife, whether bald eagles or buffalo, when cattle interests are at stake," stated Sue Nackoney, spokesperson.

Background

          The Gallatin National Forest, particularly in the Horse Butte area, provides critical winter habitat for Yellowstone wildlife, particularly buffalo. Currently the warm south-facing slopes of Horse Butte provide the most plentiful available forage for migrating buffalo. There have been over 30 buffalo grazing on the exposed ground on the Butte within a half mile radius of the capture facility since early winter.
          Horse Butte is a peninsula on Hebgen Lake, NW of West Yellowstone, and is an active bald eagle nesting site. Biologists with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks have been daily documenting eagle nesting activity . The area also provides habitat for additional threatened and endangered species such as the grizzly bear and peregrine falcon.
          The facility is located within 1/4 mile of a bald eagle nest, which is actively used by a pair of bald eagles. The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Biological Opinion authorizing a "take" of the nest, which will allow the impact of operating the facility to displace eagles from nest site and render the site inactive. However, the permit to the nest was issued assuming that construction of the facility would be complete during nesting season, which began February 1. Construction of the facility involves heavy machinery, soil disturbance, a generator and floodlights that illuminate the area at night.
          The state of Montana has requested up to $500,000 per year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the operation of the bison trap for the purpose protecting its brucellosis-free status (a status given by the USDA to states which have no brucellosis in their cattle herds). However, the USDA does not have the legal authority to revoke Montana's status based solely on the presence of potentially exposed wildlife in the state.
          The facility will capture and test buffalo who migrate to the peninsula. The agencies claim that the operation of the capture facility will help with the "urgent need" to reduce bison mortality. However, in the winter of 1996-1997, the use of these facilities sent hundreds of buffalo to slaughter. All pregnant females, regardless of whether they test positive for brucellosis, will be shipped to slaughter. All other buffalo testing positive will be shipped to slaughter.
          More than half of the buffalo captured in a similar trap at Duck Creek this year by the DOL have been slaughtered while only 13% have actually carried brucellosis.
          Only culture tests determine if an animal is actually infected with brucellosis. Such tests are conducted at the slaughterhouse by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). According to APHIS, only 2 of the first 17 buffalo slaughtered this winter actually carried the disease.

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

Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
Phone: 406-646-0070
FAX: 406-646-0071
email: buffalo@wildrockies.org
URL: http:www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
Video Footage Available upon Request.
Scanned still photos available on the web.

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