In today’s Buffalo Field Campaign Update from the Field the depths that Montana’s livestock barons will stoop to protect livestock interests is revealed. Because the Montana Department of Livestock is limited by a temporary restraining order issued on Monday by a federal judge, they have decided to explicitly violate the property rights of a landowner who has explicitly told them that the agency is not welcome on their land. The Galanis family “alerted the Department of Livestock to the fact that the buffalo are welcome on the preserve and that the agents, buffalo hazing, and harassment are not.” The State of Montana has made it explicitly clear that the rights of the Galanis family are subservient to the livestock industry and that they are willing to violate those rights at any time they please to conduct their hazing operations.
The hazing takes place in the midst of bison birthing season and calves just days old spend the beginning of their lives being chased by cowboys on horses and ATV’s.
Here is the update from the Buffalo Field Campaign.
* Update from the Field: Judge Orders Halt to Helicopter Hazing
We’ve been seeing a lot of grizzly bear sign this spring. A few patrols have seen actual grizzlies. Buffalo Field Campaign’s documentation of the presence of the protected bears has helped secure a Temporary Restraining Order in U.S. District Court to ground the helicopter. Attorney Rebecca Smith, representing the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, successfully argued in court on Monday, May 14 to prohibit the use of helicopters for hazing buffalo in threatened grizzly bear habitat. The Order, issued by Judge Charles C. Lovell, prevents the Interagency Bison Management Plan agencies “from conducting further bison helicopter hazing operations…pending further order of this Court.” Buffalo Field Campaign’s expert assistance and video and photographic evidence played a central role in the case. The grounding of the helicopter is a major and immediate victory that is already being felt on the ground.
BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
For the first time in at least fifteen springs we needn’t fear the chopper’s overwhelming noise and vibrations or squint our eyes to the powerful dust-stirring gusts of the rotor wash. We don’t have to see the buffalo frantic with terror or watch grizzly bears, moose, elk, eagles, swans, and herons–and so many other precious species–flee from the deafening noise. We don’t have to watch newborn calves run on broken or dislocated legs as the chopper hovers and lunges from overhead. Spring is blooming along the Yellowstone boundary and, for at least the time being, the hell of the ‘copter is over.
BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
The landscape on the western edge of Yellowstone is the buffalo’s home. The south-facing, grass-growing slopes of the Horse Butte Peninsula are birthing grounds; pregnant mothers gather here to gain strength and nourishment after the long and cold winter; newborn calves, reddish-orange and brimming with life, draw their firsts breaths and take their first steps here. The meadows, bluffs, banks, and forests that envelop the Madison River on its westward course from Yellowstone National Park comprise a rare and precious patch of Earth still blessed with wild buffalo, grizzly bears, wolves, and wolverines. This is one of the very last places in America where wild buffalo still leave hoof prints, tufts of hair, and pie shaped droppings.
BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
The Montana Department of Livestock, helicopter or not, refuses to tolerate buffalo on this landscape. Since Monday we have documented one hazing operation after another as a host of horse-mounted agents, from the Department of Livestock, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the National Park Service, do everything in their power–and some things beyond their rightful power–to clear the land of the buffalo who belong here. Trespassing, chasing buffalo past the point of exhaustion, depriving thirsty animals of water, and separating newborn calves from their mothers are not too much for these livestock agents, game wardens, and park rangers.
BFC file photos by Justine and Stephany. Click photos for large images.
BFC file photos by Justine and Stephany. Click photos for large images.
The Galanis family thought they could help the buffalo when they bought land on Horse Butte and designated it as a preserve where buffalo and other wildlife would be safe and protected. They alerted the Department of Livestock to the fact that the buffalo are welcome on the preserve and that the agents, buffalo hazing, and harassment are not. On Tuesday morning, three horse-mounted agents of the Montana Department of Livestock willfully disregarded the rights and wishes of the Galanis family and entered their land without permission to chase away the buffalo. We were there at the Galanis’ invitation to greet the agents at the property line, remind them that they were trespassing, to tell them that the buffalo are welcome, and to document their illegal entry. The agents ignored our warnings, charging their horses at the buffalo and chasing them toward the back of the property. Justine and I got on our bikes and followed, videotaping and shooting photos as the frightened buffalo fled the horsemen.
BFC file photos by Justine and Stephany. Click photos for large images.
BFC file photos by Justine and Stephany. Click photos for large images.
Even without the helicopter, hazing is intolerable. The agents ran the buffalo at top speed up and over the crest of Horse Butte. We left our bikes with our patrol partners and sprinted after the haze with our cameras. The things we witnessed then and since are things no one should have to see or endure: calves separated from their herds by the strong current of the Madison River, their mothers emitting plaintive bellows; the pronounced limp of a newborn calf as it flees the horsemen, the umbilical cord still trailing from its mom; collapsed and panting calves being prodded from the ground to run; protective mothers turning to face the riders, “back off, already!”
This is what the lives of wild buffalo are like this week along Yellowstone’s western boundary. Buffalo, members of America’s last wild population, are being chased as you read this. With the grounding of the helicopter we achieved a major victory that will benefit the entire landscape and all its inhabitants. The helicopter will probably not be back this spring. But to mistake this victory for the end of the struggle would be dangerous and dishonest. Hazing buffalo, by whatever means, must stop. Buffalo Field Campaign will continue to fight for the buffalo in the field, in the courts, and in the policy arena. We will be here to document every last action against the buffalo and to do everything we can to further their protection. Please support us in this crucial work.
For the Buffalo,
Dan Brister
Executive Director
Buffalo Field Campaign
