Buffalo Field Campaign PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org bfc-media@wildrockies.org Yellowstone Bison Update from the Field January 30, 2014 *You can view the HTML version of the Update from the Field, which includes photos and hyperlinks, on http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org Stunning Wild Bison 2014 Calendars -- Some still in stock -- ORDER TODAY! https://org.salsalabs.com/o/2426/t/11564/shop/item.jsp?storefront_KEY=554&t=&store_item_KEY=4649 * Volunteers Needed! Intense Field Season Expected in Wild Bison Country * Update from the Field * TAKE ACTION! Stop the War Against Wild Buffalo * SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOS & ART WORK to BFC's Wild Bison Calendar! * Buffalo in the News * By the Numbers * Last Words of Buffalo Inspiration ******************** * VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Intense Field Season Expected in Wild Bison Country! If you ever have dreamed of standing with buffalo and fighting for their rights to be wild, NOW IS THAT TIME! BFC is in need of caring people who are willing to make this sacred sacrifice to help the buffalo. Buffalo Field Campaign invites you to join us on the front lines, here on the edge of the world's first national park, to defend America's last wild, migratory buffalo. State, federal, and even some tribal governments are planning to capture and kill hundreds of wild bison in the coming months. They aim to reduce the already vulnerable population of America's last wild, migratory buffalo to a mere 3,000 animals. We need more people to stand with us and tell, show and be here for the buffalo. Please, if you have ever thought about coming out we need help from now until the end of May. BFC provides room, board, gear, and training while the wildlife and wild lands provide incredible inspiration. Please contact our volunteer coordinators at volunteer[AT]buffalofieldcampaign[DOT]org or 406-646-0070. Bring your passion and your ideas. See you on the front lines! Thanks for giving us the honor of standing with these sacred beings and please come experience it for yourselves, it will change your life. WITH THE BUFFALO, Mike Mease ******************** * Update from the Field More than 90 of America's last wild, migratory buffalo have been killed by state and treaty hunters so far this season. Since our last Update, 18 more buffalo have been gunned down in the Gardiner Basin, at Beattie Gulch, barely having crossed over the boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The "fair chase" ethics so embraced by hunters appears to be non-existent; the buffalo haven't even had a chance to experience some of the new expanded habitat areas in the Gardiner Basin because hunters are literally waiting at the park boundary -- not far from their vehicles -- to shoot them. Three of these buffalo were killed by state tag holders, while 15 were killed by hunters with the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), one of the IBMP-affiliated tribes that have entered into buffalo slaughter contracts with Yellowstone National Park. The CSKT have killed more buffalo this season than any other hunting group. Of the 91 buffalo that have so far been taken, 68 have been killed by the CSKT, and should capture and slaughter operations take place this year, as we anticipate, the CSKT will acquire hundreds of wild buffalo to take directly to the slaughterhouse. Shooting an ecologically extinct wildlife species in a state that doesn't even have a resident population is not hunting; it is extermination. Please visit the Take Action page below to help end the war against wild, migratory bison. ******************** * TAKE ACTION! Please visit BFC's Take Action Page for a variety of action alerts that enable you to make your voice heard for America's last wild herds! http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/takeaction.html ******************** * SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOS & ART WORK to BFC's 2015 Wild Bison Calendar! WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR 2015, so if you have high resolution photos, artwork, poetry, quotes, or interesting natural facts about wild buffalo, please contact Stephany at bfc-media[AT]wildrockies[DOT]org for details. There are a few more of BFC's 2014 Wild Bison of Yellowstone Country Calendars still in stock! This is likely our best calendar yet, with absolutely stunning photos of wild buffalo in their native habitat, incredible artwork, and inspiring quotes, facts, and poetry. ORDER NOW: https://org.salsalabs.com/o/2426/t/11564/shop/item.jsp?storefront_KEY=554&t=&store_item_KEY=4649 Thank you to everyone who has made our Wild Bison calendars such a huge success! This is one of our favorite projects as it allows all of us to celebrate wild buffalo 365 days a year! ******************** * Buffalo in the News Biobullets not allowed on wild bison Outside Magazine http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Biobullets-Will-Not-Be-Used-on-Bison.html Brucellosis plan deadly to wild bison, elk Billings Gazette http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/mailbag/brucellosis-plan-deadly-to-wild-bison-elk/article_87bd07b9-0156-50f7-86b2-00608acd506f.html Farm bill provisions worry wildlife advocates Billings Gazette (originating in The Missoulian) http://billingsgazette.com/sports/more/farm-bill-provision-worries-wildlife-advocates/article_21a7068e-7fd8-57c7-9b83-70c26cd7c90a.html >From bison to birds, the National Park Service rethinks its approach to migratory species High Country News http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/from-bison-to-birds-national-park-service-rethinks-its-approach-to-migratory-species?utm_source=wcn1&utm_medium=email Bison unfairly cast as brucellosis villians (Todd Wilkinson, part 3) Jackson Hole News & Guide http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/columnists/the_new_west_todd_wilkinson/bison-unfairly-cast-as-brucellosis-villains/article_e18b693f-d695-5012-95a0-8c200997dfee.html ******************** *By the Numbers The last wild, migratory buffalo populations are currently estimated at fewer than 4,500 individual animals, living in and around Yellowstone National Park. Wild, migratory bison are ecologically extinct throughout their native range in North America. 2013-2014 Total Buffalo Killed: 91 Government Capture: Buffalo Released from Capture: Government Slaughter: Held for Government Experiment: Died in Government Trap: Died in Government Research Facility**: 1 Miscarriage in Government Trap: State Hunt: 16 Treaty Hunts: 75 Unknown Hunts: Sent to Quarantine: Sent to Research Facility: Shot by Agents: Highway Mortality: Cause of Death Unknown: Total Killed in Previous Years* 2012-2013: 261 2011-2012: 33 2010-2011: 227 2009-2010: 7 2008-2009: 22 2007-2008: 1,631 Total Killed Since 2000: 4,355 *includes lethal government action, trap-related fatalities, quarantine/experiments, hunts, and highway deaths **bison stolen from the wild and placed in research facilities (such as for GonaCon) have already been counted as being "eliminated from the population" so bison that have died in a government research facility are not reflected in the total. ******************** * Last Words of Buffalo Inspiration ~ Jim Bailey on Rewilding an Icon Where Does Nature Begin? Dedicated to the memory of the three bull buffalo murdered January 4, 2014, 50 yards from Yellowstone's "boundary." Tell the bison not to go where they have always been, instruct the elephants to read and give up their ancient memories of where the water is. Force wolves and bears to learn the boundaries that have never been- the ink that lies unseeable between this tree, that blade of grass. Teach them all to read the maps that are invisible. Make them know what is not real, does not exist for moon or stars, and stubborn as they are kill them for not learning what we will not share. ...for the bison and wolves of the Yellowstone and Northern Rockies ecosystem, for the trees and plants and rocks, the elephants and orangutans, for the bees and the gorillas, the butterflies and birds, for the voles and nematodes, for the frogs and salamanders and the bats, for the otters, dolphins, whales, and polar bears, for the turtles and the coral and the krill, for the plankton and the leopard and the wolverine, for the beetles and the worms, for the waters, earth, and air... (© February 3, 2010 Carol Snyder Halberstadt) Please send us your submissions for Last Words to bfc-media[AT]wildrockies[DOT]org. Thank you for all the poems, songs, quotes and stories you've contributed! Keep them coming! -- -- -- Click here to unsubscribe http://org.salsalabs.com/o/2426/t/7926/p/salsa/supporter/unsubscribe/public/?unsubscribe_page_KEY=42