The Final Days of the Checkerboard Wild Horse Roundup, Part I.
via The Final Days of the Checkerboard Wild Horse Roundup, Part I.
Category Archives: Wildlife
ANOTHER PARK SLAUGHTER!! We Need Goose Angels!!
If you haven’t heard about the most recent plan to round-up and gas over 200 geese in the Mill Creek Metroparks reservation. This is a sickening attack on our waterfowl. We must all help to stop this mass killing. Please take 1 minute and sign petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/988/023/072/sickening-attack-on-our-waterfowl/
Remember….if WS are not killing animals they are not being paid! They continually look for new species to target.
Published: Thu, June 26, 2014 @ 12:03 a.m.
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
Several Mill Creek Park roads were closed to motor vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians at 12:01 a.m. today and will remain closed until noon today for euthanasia of geese, a park official said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture “will be humanely euthanizing some of the geese,” with the project to be overseen by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said Samantha Villella, Mill Creek MetroParks community engagement director.
The closed roads are Memorial Hill, East Glacier, Lily Pond, Robinson Hill, West and West Glacier drives, according to a park news release.
In the past, park officials have used predator decoys and noisemakers to scare off geese, Villella said.
As an additional geese population-control measure, park officials continue to addle the eggs of geese under an ODNR permit, Villella said.
In that process, they make the eggs of geese non-viable by puncturing them with 3-inch nails.
“They have a nuisance issue with geese in the park,” said Laura Graber, the Akron-based ODNR wildlife research technician who issued the permit for the early morning roundup and euthanasia of geese and goslings.
This is the first time for this activity in Mill Creek Park, but such roundups have been done elsewhere in Ohio, she said.
John Paul Seman, a Poland-based assistant USDA district supervisor, said the geese and goslings were to be be captured, placed in a chamber and euthanized with carbon dioxide gas, according to American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines.
Karen Stamper is THE numero uno angel for Geese and Mute Swans. She has been fighting diligently and for a long time to save these birds from brutality from the DNR and USDA Wildllife Services. If you can help out with the below request please do. Please also pass this message on to other kind humans.
Additional Help is appreciated,
Dear fellow geese lovers:If any of you are able to help Karen Stamper with some donations to defray
the costs of feeding, rescuing and transporting geese to sanctuaries, please
send a check to:Karen Stamper 4796 Half Penny CT, Commerce Twp MI 48382
the costs of feeding, rescuing and transporting geese to sanctuaries, please
send a check to:Karen Stamper 4796 Half Penny CT, Commerce Twp MI 48382
Karen goes above and beyond the call of duty to care for geese.
Thank you.
We are in serious need of donations
to help with feed, straw, transports, lettuce, aviary netting, fencing, and
meds. We have been receiving 2 to 3 calls some days on abandoned babies and
injured birds. Some need medical attention, some are fine, They just eat
like little piggies. If anyone is able to help monetarily, or can pick up
some cheap, clean straw, or Romaine lettuce. turnip greens, mixedB greens,
spring mixes, please let me know. There are only 4 of us who get these calls
and take care of the birds. We travel all over the state, So as some of you
know, it can be very exhausting and financially draining. I hate to ask, but
we are starting to feel overwhelmed.
If you would like to help us out in any way, please contact me through
e-mail or feel free to call me 248-912-5042. B If you would like. you can
make checks payable to: Karen Stamper 4796 Half Penny CT, Commerce Twp MI
48382. We truly do appreciate your help.
Alaska governor allowing the “kill-on-site” policy
by Nicole Rivard, Friends of Animals Correspondent
Please tell Alaska governor Sean Parnell what you think for allowing the “kill-on-site” policy for wolf pups and bear cubs orphaned by state predator control to continue. http://gov.alaska.gov/parnell/contact/email-the-governor.html Friends of Animals has learned from Rick Steiner, professor and conservation biologist, that despite the wildly popular rescue of wolf pups abandoned in the Kenai fire last week, which was covered on national television news, the State of Alaska announced June 2 that it would not alter its “kill-on-site” policy for newborn wildlife orphaned by the state’s predator control programs across western and northern Alaska.
Please tell Gov.
These pups escaped death because they were rescued by firefighters before the Alaska Department of Fish & Game could get their hands on them, and have been adopted by the Minnesota Zoo instead of being killed.
But the future is bleak for future pups orphaned after the State of Alaska kills their parents.
After killing all of the adult wolves from two wolf packs on the South Alaska Peninsula in their spring 2008 predator control effort, ADFG biologists pulled 14 newborn wolf pups from the two dens, and shot each in the head. Subsequent public outrage led to the adoption of the state’s wolf pup protocol in Nov. 2008, which called for the live collection and placement of orphaned wolf pups in zoos and other facilities.
Then in May 2009, with no public notice, prior to the continuation of the Alaska Peninsula wolf control program, the state adopted a new wolf pup protocol that called for the lethal gassing of wolf pups orphaned by predator control efforts in western and northern Alaska. Although there has never been a reported case of rabies in wolf pups, the rationale the state gave for adopting its new lethal protocol in western and northern Alaska was a purported risk of rabies in wolf pups.
by Nicole Rivard, Friends of Animals Correspondent
Shame on Alaska governor Sean Parnell for allowing the “kill-on-site” policy for wolf pups and bear cubs orphaned by state predator control to continue. Friends of Animals has learned from Rick Steiner, professor and conservation biologist, that despite the wildly popular rescue of wolf pups abandoned in the Kenai fire last week, which was covered on national television news, the State of Alaska announced June 2 that it would not alter its “kill-on-site” policy for newborn wildlife orphaned by the state’s predator control programs across western and northern Alaska.
These pups escaped death because they were rescued by firefighters before the Alaska Department of Fish & Game could get their hands on them, and have been adopted by the Minnesota Zoo instead of being killed.
But the future is bleak for future pups orphaned after the State of Alaska kills their parents.
After killing all of the adult wolves from two wolf packs on the South Alaska Peninsula in their spring 2008 predator control effort, ADFG biologists pulled 14 newborn wolf pups from the two dens, and shot each in the head. Subsequent public outrage led to the adoption of the state’s wolf pup protocol in Nov. 2008, which called for the live collection and placement of orphaned wolf pups in zoos and other facilities.
Then in May 2009, with no public notice, prior to the continuation of the Alaska Peninsula wolf control program, the state adopted a new wolf pup protocol that called for the lethal gassing of wolf pups orphaned by predator control efforts in western and northern Alaska. Although there has never been a reported case of rabies in wolf pups, the rationale the state gave for adopting its new lethal protocol in western and northern Alaska was a purported risk of rabies in wolf pups.
But given the lack of rabies risk, many wildlife advocates feel the new “kill-on-site” protocol was actually adopted for other reasons, including: the current state administration, and its political supporters, harbor an irrational disdain, even hatred, for wolves; in remote areas, without the watchful eye of the news media, the state feels it is more expedient to just kill orphaned pups than to arrange their collection and placement; the state doesn’t want to attract attention to the inhumane consequences of its scientifically unjustified predator control programs by providing an opportunity for news media to cover the live collection and placement of orphaned young; and the state doesn’t want the public to understand that the “hidden” effects of its predator control programs are far greater than just the number of adults killed.
Wolf pups and bear cubs remain dependent on their parents for more than a year, thus parents killed by state predator control or liberalized hunting and trapping regulations also results in the death of dependent cubs and pups, which are not added to the kill count.
A month after the new kill-on-site protocol was adopted, on June 7, 2009, two newborn wolf pups that had been orphaned by the state wolf control effort in the area, were lethally gassed in their dens with carbon monoxide by ADFG biologists. Their carcasses were not collected and tested for rabies, and left to decompose in the den. This was the first, and so far only, time in state history that newborn wildlife has been lethally gassed. This remains state policy today.
In Feb 2014, ADFG was asked to rescind its 2009 (lethal) wolf pup protocol, and revert to its 2008 (non-lethal) protocol, but the agency declined, again citing its concern for rabies in wolf pups. Then, after the rescue of the five Kenai wolf pups last week the state was asked again to apply this non-lethal collect-and-place protocol to the entire state, arguing not only that there has never been a report of rabies in wolf pups, but also that the half dozen reports of rabies in adult wolves in the historical record (the past 70 years) were all from the Arctic. Thus the risk of rabies from wolf pups, or even adult wolves in the rest of Alaska, is exceedingly low.
Despite this argument, ADFG announced yesterday, in a June 1, 2014 email from Division of Wildlife Conservation Director Doug Vincent-Lang, the following: “We stand by our new wolf pup protocol given advice from our vet regarding rabies. Rabies is a serious disease and I trust the advice of my professionals on this issue. It is fortunate that the wolf pups from the Kenai were from a rabies free zone and could be placed.”
The agency did not provide an explanation for why its veterinarians feel rabies in wolf pups presents a risk when there has never been a reported case. Thus, any wolf pups found orphaned by the state’s predator control programs in western and northern Alaska will continue to be lethally gassed. Additionally, in a May 29, 2014 press release, ADFG admitted that its biologists had recently (this spring) killed newborn black bear cubs in its Kuskokwim (GMU 19A) predator control effort. Apparently there was no effort made to collect-and-place the newborn bear cubs.
Many Alaskans feel that the government killing of healthy newborn bear cubs and wolf pups is inhumane, unethical and unacceptable and Friends of Animals couldn’t agree more. “It takes a troubling, cold-hearted detachment from life to rationalize the killing of innocent newborn animals,” said Steiner. “Is this really what Alaska has come to? The state’s predator control program is bad enough, but to kill innocent weeks-old wolf pups and bear cubs whose parents have just been killed by gunners in helicopters, exposes a callous depravity that should concern us all. “Perhaps ADFG officials should go before an elementary school assembly and explain to the kids why, after their biologists gun down the parents of bear cubs and wolf pups from helicopters, they then order the orphaned pups and cubs to be gassed or shot instead of rescuing and placing them in facilities to live out their tragically altered lives.”
Original post here https://www.thedodo.com/alaska-governor-allows-kill-on-580469041.html
Adult Female Gashangi Diagnosed with First Known Case of Melanoma in Mountain Gorillas | Virunga National Park
URGENT!! BARBARIC TRAP AND BOLT METHOD USED TO KILL DEER
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The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) across the country is waging a war against all wildlife!!! They are torturing and eradicating all mute swans, the wolves, and even eradicating the only few white deer which remain in the country. This is a fraction of the animals which are being maliciously and intentionally trapped, clubbed to death and murdered by the DNR.
By far, the most inhumane, cruel and torturous method of killing deer in suburban/urban environments is the netting and/or trapping and using a captive bolt gun to ram a metal rod into their skull. Below, you will please find explicit videos which have been posted on youtube. These videos reveal how they trap a deer in a collapsible metal fencing box. They trap the deer by baiting it and allowing the animal to remain in the below zero, frigid, overnight temperature in the box. Once they arrive in the morning, two methods are utilized to murder the deer. In one of the methods, the box collapses over the animal as she is thrashing in the trap and men jump on top of the deer and trample her. At that point in time, they begin to ram the metal rod into her skull. Another form is when a man gets into the metal box and begins to wrestle the deer onto the ground while she is attempting to flee the cage. Unfortunately, she vigorously continues to slam her body and head into the metal cage, trying to escape. Meanwhile, as she is desperately screaming, the men break all her limbs by jumping and stepping over her to trap her down and prevent her from moving. Once she is restricted, they begin to bolt the metal rod into her skull.
THIS TYPE OF VICIOUS CRUELTY WITH SUCH EXTREME SUFFERING, TORTURE AND SLAUGHTER OF DEER SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED BY ANIMAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ALL PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!!!!!
During the entire month of March, WITHOUT THE PUBLIC BEING AWARE, Cornell University of Ithaca, New York has approved the use of trapping and bolting of deer on their premises. Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is implementing this method under a “nuisance permit” to slaughter forty deer.
PLEASE, PLEASE HELP STOP THIS TORTURE OF INNOCENT WILDLIFE BY TAKING ACTION!!!
PLEASE POST ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS!! PLEASE LET’S STOP THIS BEFORE IT REACHES MICHIGAN!!!!
PLEASE CONTACT THE FOLLOWING MEDIA BY EITHER WRITING OR CALLING. FURTHER DETAILED INFORMATION IS DISCUSSED BELOW.
Tompkins Weekly
607-539-7100 / editorial@tompkinsweekly.com
Ithaca Journal
Newsroom: (607) 274-9245
Neill Borowsky, Exec Editor: (607) 798-1186 / nborowski@gannett.com
Letters to the Editor: ith-letters@gannett.com
Cornell Daily Sun
Newsroom: news@cornellsun.com
Editor in Chief, Haley Velasco: editor-in-chief@cornellsun.com
The Ithacan (Ithaca College newspaper)
Editor in Chief, Megan Devlin: 607-274-3208 / mdevlin1209@gmail.com
Ithaca Times
editor@ithacatimes.com
TWC News (formerly YNN) – TV new
News Tips: (315) 234-1010 / yournews@twcnews.com
WENY – TV news
Newsroom: (607) 739-1412 / news36@weny.com
CNY Central – TV news
(315) 477-9400 / news@cnycentral.com
WBNG – Action News
(607) 729-9575 /actionnews@wbngtv.com
WSKG – Radio
News: (607) 729-0100 x381
WHCU – Radio
THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR TAKING IMMEDIATE ACTION,
Monique
On Friday, March 21, 2014 9:57 PM, CayugaDeer.org <contact@cayugadeer.org> wrote:
It is with a heavy heart that we share some news that is certain to be upsetting to many people in the Ithaca community and beyond.
We recently obtained access to a letter dated March 4th, sent by Cornell’s Office of Community Relations to a handful of local public officials. The information contained in this letter revealed that faculty and staff members of Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are in the process of turning our community into a slaughterhouse for deer. We have further learned from more than one source that, in addition to brutally killing individual after individual with arrows, Cornell’s DNR staff are capturing deer in traps and killing them with captive bolt guns.
This is all happening in areas much closer to home than we could ever have imagined.
Why is Cornell Turning Our Community into an Open-Air Slaughterhouse?
CayugaDeer.org has long maintained that the wildlife division of NY State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) seeks to use the Ithaca community as a gateway to “net and bolt” killing of suburban deer — a technique widely condemned by veterinary experts and humane societies for its egregious cruelty. Faculty and staff of Cornell’s DNR, whose actions often serve to further the DEC’s cynical agenda while cloaking it in a veil of perceived academic legitimacy, have been setting up “Clover traps” (collapsible box traps) on Cornell-owned property in various areas of the Town of Ithaca. They are then killing the deer they capture by ramming a metal rod into their skulls using a “captive bolt” device similar to those used in slaughterhouses.
In Defense of Animals, a national animal protection organization, writes: “The trap-and-bolt method of ‘wildlife management’ is so cruel that only a handful of U.S. cities have tried it, some of them being forced to stop after activists exposed the shocking reality of how much suffering it causes.”
The university is trapping and bolting deer under a wildlife “nuisance” permit it obtained from the DEC, which allows Cornell to kill 40 deer during the month of March. Along with bowhunting — which studies have shown leaves up to half of its victims wounded and running off to endure an agonizingly slow and painful death — the nuisance permit allows non-conventional techniques which are controversial even within the hunting community. In addition to trapping and bolting, permissible practices include baiting, the use of spotlights, and killing deer well into the nighttime hours. All this activity is currently legal and may be happening at any of the following locations within the Town of Ithaca, up until Cornell’s current nuisance permit expires on March 31st:
• In and around the Robert T. Jones Golf Course
• East of Caldwell Road and South of Forest Home Drive
• North of Plantations Road and East of Judd Falls
• Between Pine Tree and Game Farm Roads
• South of Mitchell Street and East of the East Hill Recreation Trail
• South of Rt. 13 and West and East of Sapsucker Woods Road
Why is the DEC Imposing its Trap & Kill Agenda on NY State Communities?
Ithaca is not the only community being targeted by the DEC’s improper use of nuisance permits. Long Island residents recently obtained a Temporary Restraining Order from a NY State Supreme Court judge barring the DEC from issuing more nuisance permits until their case is heard at the end of the month. One of the petitioners complained in the media about the “sweeping, archaic policies” of the DEC, which, despite widespread public opposition, is now trying to condemn entire populations of deer as “a nuisance” in order to open the door to mass-killing campaigns in New York’s suburban neighborhoods.
When Cayuga Heights Mayor Kate Supron attempted to bring net and bolt killing into our community, the result was an outpouring of public revulsion followed by years of bitter acrimony between neighbors that continues today. Cornell’s DNR faculty and staff, including Bernd Blossey, Paul Curtis and Jay Boulanger, have each been actively working to encourage the mass-killing of deer in Tompkins County. It has been reported by area residents that Blossey and Boulanger have even been going door to door trying to talk people into allowing deer to be killed on their properties. All three of these Cornell-affiliated individuals have been involved both in public and behind-the-scenes campaigns aimed at convincing area municipalities that non-lethal approaches to addressing deer-human conflicts are inadequate. The message they have propagated is that the mass-killing of deer is necessary to avert an ecological and public health crisis. Such contentions have been roundly rejected by numerous national-level scientists, as we have thoroughly documented on our web site and in several news stories over the years. (See http://www.cayugadeer.org/refuted.htm )
Along with influencing public policy and convincing individual residents to allow killing activities on their property, these Cornell staff members are also personally killing numerous deer themselves as part of various “management” programs. Despite knowing very well how trapping and bolting deer violates the values of our community, they, along with higher-ups at Cornell, have chosen to carry it out in locations all around us, simply bypassing a transparent public process.
The vast majority of people in our community have no idea of the Cornell-sponsored animal cruelty and killing that is taking place in locations that they drive, walk, or jog past every day. And if they did, there would be an uproar, which is exactly why an attempt has been made to get all the killing done before most people are even aware it is happening.
Will Our Community Tolerate the Whitewashing of Animal Torture and Killing?
On its deer management website, Cornell gives the impression that those running the program are receptive to feedback from the community and in favor of public dialogue on deer management issues. Yet, the people in charge of this program are engaged in acts of violence that they know most people will find morally reprehensible, and they do it out of public view.
The photo above is from Cranbrook, British Columbia, where a similar trap and bolt program has been carried out. After a captured deer has endured the frigid temperatures overnight, the killers arrive, the box trap is collapsed on top of the helpless and terrified animal, and a captive bolt gun is used to shoot a metal rod into her brain. Over the last couple weeks, a timeframe in which we know this kind of activity has been taking place here in Ithaca, the temperatures have plunged into the single digits on several occasions. This means captured deer could have spent hours exposed to the freezing cold, unable to seek the warmth of shelter before being slaughtered.
Once a deer is caught in the trap she often thrashes about wildly in a panic, which only gets more desperate when her killers show up and forcibly wrestle her to the ground. Even in highly controlled circumstances bolt guns are a grisly way to kill an individual, however with a wild animal who is fiercely struggling for her life, there are so many ways the bolt can veer off its intended placement, instead going through an eye or a shoulder and taking multiple shots before having its intended impact. You can see what the trapping process looks like and hear the desperate cries of captured deer in these two videos, which are from research programs at other locations that did not involve killing the deer:
Ohio resident Nan Richardson visited a trap and bolt site in the Cleveland area. She spoke of her firsthand experience at a public meeting, saying:
The licensed nuisance control person was very hesitant in allowing me to see what he did. He warned me that this could be emotionally traumatic and said he always took great efforts to keep this far from the public’s view… I mentally tried to prepare myself for what I might see. As I soon discovered, nothing could have prepared me.Once we arrived at our destination, a private residence in a suburb of Cleveland, I saw a beautiful doe caught in the clover trap. Deer are wild animals and are not accustomed to human contact, so as we approached her it became obvious that her being trapped was causing significant distress.
She jumped up and began to cry. She sounded exactly like a human baby. I’ll never forget that sound. She was frantic. Her natural instinct was to flee. She could not, which only compounded her extreme fright and misery. She then began to throw herself against the cage violently. She banged her head against the cage again and again in attempts to escape, all the while screaming.I will never ever forget what I saw next. She flipped over backwards and fell to the ground. It looked as if her eyes had exploded in her head. She had a fatal heart attack. She was literally scared to death. The licensed expert told me this does happen sometimes even before he can finish the job with the captive bolt. I had seen enough and was glad I was spared viewing anymore horror and cruelty.The experienced, licensed expert then dragged the poor doe to his truck as if he were hauling trash to the curb. At this point I was sick to my stomach and raging at all who were responsible for this cruelty and torment. They use all kinds of excuses to substantiate torturing wildlife and the overseers and officials, such as municipal governments and Division of Wildlife Officers, use sanitized words to disguise the truth and fool the public into believing that this repulsive cruelty is humane and quick.All I know is this doe was crying out for her life, for mercy, and I could do nothing. She suffered a horrific death despite having escaped the barbaric steel spike driven through her skull.
The letter from Cornell to public officials specifically mentioned that the 40 individuals who were to be killed under the DEC’s nuisance permit would be”anterless” deer. At this time of year, many does are pregnant, with fawning season taking place between May and June. So the violence is only amplified when nearly mature fawns suffocate and die in the wombs of their slaughtered mothers. That these abhorrent acts are being performed just out of sight under a facade of academic legitimacy makes the situation all the more disturbing. For many long-term residents, this is a troubling reminder of how the prestige and power of Cornell can be used as a cover to carry out actions that are so clearly harmful to the local community. In this case, the DEC’s political agenda — which includes attempts to block NY State municipalities from taking a “no-kill” approach to addressing deer-human conflicts — is being served without the community being adequately informed, much less given the opportunity to consent.
Many of us choose to live in Ithaca because we believe in this community’s potential to be a beacon of hope, a place dedicated to creative and peaceful conflict resolution with a long, proud history of cultivating alternatives to violence. Right now, our best traditions are being disrespected and degraded by the actions of a few influential players at Cornell and the DEC who are pursuing hidden agendas at the expense of the wider community.
What You Can Do
Under the DEC permit, trap and bolt killing is allowed to continue into next week and the following weekend. You can help put a spotlight on this atrocity and expose the truth that has been so carefully concealed until now. Please write or call the following media outlets and urge them to further investigate this story and report on it. You can also write a letter to the editor of local newspapers.
Tompkins Weekly
607-539-7100 / editorial@tompkinsweekly.com
Ithaca Journal
Newsroom: (607) 274-9245
Neill Borowsky, Exec Editor: (607) 798-1186 / nborowski@gannett.com
Letters to the Editor: ith-letters@gannett.com
Cornell Daily Sun
Newsroom: news@cornellsun.com
Editor in Chief, Haley Velasco: editor-in-chief@cornellsun.com
The Ithacan (Ithaca College newspaper)
Editor in Chief, Megan Devlin: 607-274-3208 / mdevlin1209@gmail.com
Ithaca Times
editor@ithacatimes.com
TWC News (formerly YNN) – TV new
News Tips: (315) 234-1010 / yournews@twcnews.com
WENY – TV news
Newsroom: (607) 739-1412 / news36@weny.com
CNY Central – TV news
(315) 477-9400 / news@cnycentral.com
WBNG – Action News
(607) 729-9575 /actionnews@wbngtv.com
WSKG – Radio
News: (607) 729-0100 x381
WHCU – Radio
News Director, Greg Fry: 607-257-6400 / gfry@cyradiogroup.com
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CITIZENS FOR SAFE, ETHICAL AND RATIONAL APPROACHES TO REDUCING DEER-HUMAN CONFLICT
http://www.cayugadeer.org/
http://www.cayugadeer.org/
. Update from the Field
Wild buffalo move into a blizzard in the Gardiner Basin. Winter may be releasing her grip, but impacts will be felt for weeks to come. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
As the Spring Equinox approaches, wild buffalo calving season is barely a month away. This is a most critical time for buffalo and other wildlife who have struggled to survive the harsh winter, living on the meager offerings of sleeping grasses and their own stores of body fat. With these stores are nearly depleted most of the buffalo we are seeing appear thin with protruding ribs, backs, and hump bones. Being forbidden access to lower elevation winter range takes a huge toll on the bison. In the past few months more than 630 wild buffalo have been killed by humans and winter kills will also be significant. Though snows are quickly melting, green-up is still weeks away, and now is the time when only the strongest will survive. There is danger even in the new ultra-rich spring grasses that will come as the digestive systems of buffalo (and elk), used to breaking down coarse, dry winter-fare, are vulnerable to overindulgence in the green grasses they so desperately need.
This bull and his companion walked through a field of gut piles, stopping to investigate and mourn the violent passing of relatives. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
Meanwhile, treaty hunting has continued. Twenty-three more wild buffalo, including pregnant cows, were harvested over the weekend. Thankfully, no wild buffalo have been killed since Monday. We anticipate that treaty hunts will finally be over soon, though it is difficult to predict.
A bachelor bull group allows an orphaned yearling, who’s family has been killed by hunters, to take shelter in their company. It is not unusual for cow-lead family groups to adopt orphans, but this is the first time we’ve seen bulls seemingly accept such a young one. BFC photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
Yellowstone National Park issued a press release on Tuesday, announcing that three buffalo were poached in the Blacktail region of the park; shot and killed. While this news is very disturbing, we find great hypocrisy in the fact that the Park Service can capture and send hundreds of buffalo to slaughter while condemning others for committing similar crimes against the buffalo. Closure signs are still in place all around Yellowstone’s Stephens Creek bison trap, and we have noticed a few more horses arriving to their corrals. While capture and slaughter operations may have ceased for the time being, we are ever-vigilant for hazing (harassment) operations to take place.
A late-born calf, still donning is red baby coat, grazes alongside its mother. Most buffalo calves turn this color by July or early-August. Survival is more challenging for baby buffalo born closer to the cold, unforgiving months. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click for larger image.
Livestock interests are attempting to turn year-round habitat for buffalo into a slaughter agreement. Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks and Department of Livestock met this week to discuss a draft proposal that would exchange wild buffalo lives for access to year-round habitat in the Hebgen Basin west of Yellowstone National Park. Essentially, if there are 4,000 bison or more, no additional tolerance will be given, and so-called tolerance would only be given as the population declines. The proposal is unacceptable to Buffalo Field Campaign, as we will not compromise the buffalo or make them pay a blood-sacrifice to gain ground. This proposal shows that broad public support for year-round buffalo habitat has been corrupted by ranchers to force an agreement, a public buy-in, for slaughtering buffalo and driving the population down to a few thousand. The proposal is still in draft form and we are currently reviewing the details. In the meantime, please send a letter to Montana Governor Steve Bullock telling him you reject slaughter-for-habitat, and urge him to step up and take a meaningful leadership role for America’s last wild, migratory buffalo. It is, after all, Montana’s livestock industry anti-bison policies that currently drive all of the mismanagement of the world’s most important bison populations.
Though the buffalo are up against incredible odds, there is a new BFC video below that shows they have awesome friends in many places. Enjoy this light-hearted piece and know that everyone, everywhere, who cares about wild buffalo is Buffalo Field Campaign.
WILD IS THE WAY ~ ROAM FREE!
Anti-hunters Outnumber Hunters by Three to One
Animal Legal Defense Fund, Winning the Case against Cruelty
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A Great Day for American Horses
| Animal Legal Defense Fund 170 East Cotati Avenue, Cotati, CA 94931 / (707) 795-2533 / info@aldf.org / aldf.org |
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