At dawn on December 29, Buffalo Nations activists prevented the slaughter of 16 members of America's last wild herd. The animals had wandered from Yellowstone National Park onto private land near the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. The landowner, who openly expresses his antagonism toward buffalo, had threatened to have the animals killed if they "trespassed" onto his property. He allowed the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) to construct a capture facility on his land, a natural migration corridor between the park and the buffalo's winter range. Last winter most of the buffalo herded into such facilities were killed. The Buffalo Nations morning patrol, observing a freshly plowed road to the capture facility and unfamiliar vehicles, including a livestock trailer, decided to act. Before any Department of Livestock agents were out of their trucks, cross-country skiers had slipped under a fence onto the property and quickly shepherded the buffalo to safety inside the park.
Buffalo Nations doesn't routinely haze the animals or otherwise interfere with their migration patterns. However, with winter on its way, the buffalo can't afford to waste energy, nor can they be kept inside the park because their winter feeding grounds are outside the park. Because buffalo are considered wildlife inside park boundaries and livestock outside the park, hazing is sometimes the only means of preventing slaughter.
Immediately after the morning action, Buffalo Nations received a phone call from a local landowner with two buffalo on her property. They had eaten her dog's hay-bale house and cornered her pets. She wanted the bison off her land. In previous years, her only option would have been to call the DOL to come kill the buffalo. Buffalo Nation came and saved the bison. According to Mike Mease, Buffalo Nations co-founder, "People aren't going to stand by and watch the state of Montana kill off the last wild buffalo."
On another day, activists took a stand next to nine buffalo resting on private land a half-mile beyond a capture facility. Dozens of locals and tourists with cameras stopped by the side of the road and offered support. During the course of the day, Buffalo Nations was bolstered by news that the land owner didn't want buffalo killed on his property. When the DOL showed up on snowmobiles, they were confronted by people who refused to leave the buffalo and who carried the message of the landowner to the DOL. The DOL left, threatening to come back and haze the buffalo into the capture facility with the landowner's permission. Fortunately, the DOL never returned and, presumably, never got the landowner's permission.
On January 15, Buffalo Nations and the DOL butted heads again when the DOL tried to haze buffalo into a capture facility before sending them to slaughter. The DOL attempted to use "cracker barrels" (firecrackers shot from guns) to scare buffalo onto a buffalo-hater's land and into a capture facility, but the buffalo outsmarted the DOL by turning and running right past them away from the facility. Buffalo Nations volunteers then moved through waist-deep snow into positions where they could interfere with the DOL operations.
The DOL continued trying to haze 13 buffalo towards the facility throughout the afternoon and even hazed them in the direction of volunteers monitoring DOL's efforts, endangering the lives of the volunteers. By day's end all 13 buffalo had moved into a safe area, and the DOL gave up.
The Inter-Tribal Buffalo Cooperative filed a lawsuit to stop the slaughter, but on December 16, US District Judge Charles C. Lovell (notoriously pro-cattle) announced that he would allow 100 buffalo to be killed this year before the DOL must return to court for more slaughter approval.
Buffalo Nations enjoys overwhelming public support. Recently, the owner of a 400-acre ranch asked us to post our "Buffalo Safety Zone" signs around the perimeter of her land. The signs, dotting fences throughout the community, let the DOL know it is not allowed to slay buffalo on the property, and make it easier for activists to quickly move buffalo to safety in emergency situations.
The situation in West Yellowstone becomes more urgent everyday. Snow accumulates hourly, and more than 250 buffalo are nearing the park boundary. The DOL has made its intentions clear.
Buffalo Nations expects serious confrontations any day now when the 250 buffalo leave the park. They are calling on concerned people everywhere to join them in protecting the herd. Also donations are greatly appreciated. Contact Buffalo Nations at POB 957, West Yellowstone, MT 59758; (406) 646-0070; fax 646-0071; e-mail: buffalo@wildrockies.org.
Delyla is the Montana Buffalo Action Group activist who dumped a large bucket of rotting buffalo entrails on a table in front of a hearing last March 23, splattering Montana Republican Senator Conrad Burns and US Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. (See EF!J, May-June 1997.)
Judge Anderson stipulated that Wilson, a long-time Earth First! activist, did not need permission to travel and that no drug testing would be required under her probation. "I don't want this in any way to discourage you from further [civic] involvement," Anderson said, adding that this particular protest was "perhaps excessive."
Delyla's appeal of a 190-day jail sentence handed down in state court over the same incident is still pending. To help her with her legal costs, send support to B.A.G., POB 7326, Bozeman, MT 59771.