On the web: Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 13:48:29 -0700 To: "Stop the Slaughter" From: Buffalo Field Campaign Subject: Buffalo Field Campaign Update 1/23/03 Buffalo Field Campaign News from the Field January 23, 2003 In this issue: * Update from the Field * Buffalo News on TV * Responding to Governor Martz * Update on Government Brucellosis Eradication * Last Words ---------------------------------- * Update from the Field Dear friends and supporters... The snow has arrived at last, covering the landscape in a soft white blanket. Winter finally feels like winter, which is a mixed blessing for the buffalo and us. More snow sends the buffalo wandering in search of winter forage. That wandering often leads them out of Yellowstone and into Montana's deadly political conflict. As if to remind us of this fact, yesterday we witnessed the first captures of the new year. Accompanying the captures was a confusing emotional rollercoaster ride for all of us. The day started before sunrise with our patrols taking positions near some of the bull bison outside the Park. The usual motorcade of acronyms arrived--DOL (Department of Livestock), USFS (Forest Service), FWP (Fish, Wildlife & Parks), NPS (National Park Service), as well as county sheriffs and highway patrol officers--with an assortment of trucks, trailers, snowmobiles, and horses. Just after sunrise, four bull bison were hazed near the Duck Creek Trap. The largest bull managed to escape just across the Park border, while the other three were hazed into the trap. The government agents then turned their attention to another two buffalo across the highway near Cougar Creek and the Bear Trap housing development. They hazed the first buffalo across the highway and toward the trap. Fortunately, he managed to slip across the border into the safety of Yellowstone. Unfortunately the other buffalo wasn't so lucky. He was also hazed across the highway and along the Park border. For nearly a mile he was pushed towards the trap and actively blocked by snowmobiles from crossing into the safety of the Park. It was a capture day--there would be no hazing into the Park. All of us assumed that the four captured buffalo would be shipped to slaughter. The last 139 buffalo killed were not even tested for brucellosis. The last four buffalo killed this season were all bulls, which the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) considers to pose a "low risk" of brucellosis transmission to cattle. We all waited nervously as the buffalo were loaded onto trailers. But then we had another surprise. Instead of heading north towards the slaughterhouse, the trailers moved south. Patrols followed the trailers as they moved out to Horse Butte and released the four bull buffalo. Agents on snowmobiles then proceeded to haze the buffalo further down the peninsula, deeper into the national forest, and even further from the Park. So at the end of the day, four buffalo were tested, tagged and shaved, and released about six miles outside the Park. The government managed to spend a day chasing and capturing buffalo and moving them from the proximity of Yellowstone to national forests much further away from the Park where they can be hazed again next week. Of course, the buffalo themselves were harassed, chased, trapped, confined, moved, and forced to expend much needed energy for surviving winter. Today we will leave the buffalo in peace. Soon we will check to see how they are doing and how badly they were injured. It is hard to determine exactly why the DOL needs to harass bull bison in the middle of winter, when no cattle are present, but for now they appear to be following their plan very carefully. And despite the needless harassment of bull bison seeking winter forage, at least these four buffalo are roaming free today. For the buffalo, Ted ---------------------------------- * Buffalo News on TV A few programs will air on television in the next weeks featuring BFC footage. BFC will be on CNN this Saturday, January 25th at 12:00 noon Mountain Time. A short piece will air on CNN globally, so please spread the word. CNN journalists joined us in the field for an afternoon and also used some recent BFC footage from various events. Brooklyn residents will have a chance to learn more about the buffalo by watching "Buffalo Soldier" on Brooklyn Cable Access Television. "Buffalo Soldier" will air on BCAT channels 34 and 67 on Friday, January 31st and Friday, February 7th at 6:30 PM. If you live in or near Brooklyn, NY, please spread the word so that more people learn about the senseless slaughter of the Yellowstone buffalo. Thanks to Carl Lawrence from Greenvision for producing the show. ---------------------------------- * Responding to Governor Martz We have received a number of responses from last week's email, in which we quoted Judy Martz' response to our question about how she can justify Montana's policy of killing wild buffalo. Many folks expressed their gratitude for our dedication in the face of such government doublespeak. Others asked about the validity of Judy's call for bison vaccination. So here is our response to Judy... First of all, I had an opportunity to try to continue the dialogue in person with the Governor. After her statement focusing on the risk to Montana's brucellosis free status, I informed her that a herd of cattle in Idaho contracted brucellosis from elk last year and that Idaho did not lose it's brucellosis free status. The Governor began to walk off. I continued that APHIS, the agency in charge of determining a state's brucellosis free status, does not agree with Montana's zero tolerance policy for wild bison. By this time Judy had left the room, leaving me wondering how many more buffalo would be killed under the political smoke-screen of "protecting Montana's brucellosis free status." The buffalo slaughter is not about brucellosis. There has never been a single documented case of bison giving brucellosis to cattle in the wild. In Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, cattle and infected bison have intermingled for decades without jeopardizing Wyoming's brucellosis free status. As noted above, the last 139 buffalo killed in Montana were not even tested for the disease. The last four buffalo killed this season were bulls, which APHIS considers to pose a "low risk" of brucellosis transmission to cattle. Besides which, why are buffalo being killed in October and November when no cattle will be present in the area until at least June, if at all. Add to all these points the fact that the test the DOL uses is remarkably inaccurate and the high costs poured into a policy that affects less than 2000 head of cattle in the affected area, and you begin to see a pattern of refusing to accept reality. As to vaccinating bison, as Governor Martz requested in her response, at present there is no safe and effective vaccine for wildlife. Furthermore, there is no way to deliver the vaccine without negatively impacting all wildlife in the area. It would be impossible to vaccinate every buffalo in the Park, let alone every member of every other species known to carry the bacteria (elk, bears, coyotes). A far easier, more cost-effective approach, would be to focus on the cattle, which are routinely rounded up and vaccinated for a host of other diseases anyway. A fraction of the money being spent on the bison slaughter could be directed toward developing a safe and effective cattle vaccine, which would put the entire brucellosis argument to rest. ---------------------------------- * Update on Government Brucellosis Eradication Below is some information, compiled by BFC board member Flo Gardipee, from a government panel that has been meeting periodically to discuss scientific issues related to brucellosis. Much of the information is fairly scientific. We will keep you updated on future developments. The Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee (GYIBC) held its first meeting of the year last week in Bozeman. The meeting was attended by representatives from the various state and federal agencies, scientists, and interested public. Dr. Valerie Ragan, Assistant Deputy Administrator for APHIS, introduced discussion of plans to move forward with brucellosis elimination in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA). This directive was handed down from the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Interior, who has set a target date of 2010 for this goal. Dr. Ragan emphatically reiterated that "test and slaughter" operations alone would not be on the table. Several members of the Executive Committee expressed concern that this new effort would duplicate the current function of the GYIBC. After lengthy discussion it was decided that APHIS, in conjunction with the GYIBC, would take the lead in planning a public meeting sometime early this spring. The purpose of this meeting would be to solicit input from all concerned public stakeholders regarding how to proceed towards brucellosis elimination in the GYA. Particular emphasis would be given to obtaining input from the 80 affiliated tribes who have a vested interest in YNP. The date and location for this meeting will be announced in the near future. We will include this information in a future update when we receive notification of this meeting. Dr. Don Davis, of Texas A&M University, presented the latest results of research on a calfhood vaccination study to the GYIBC. The study, titled "Failure of RB51 as a calfhood bison vaccine against brucellosis," detected no observed differences in the number of live or dead calves between vaccinated and control groups. Non-vaccinated and one-time vaccinated bison calves were obtained from a private brucellosis free herd in South Dakota. A third group, vaccinated three times in calfhood (at 6, 12, and 18 months), was obtained from another herd in South Dakota. All bison naturally were bred at three years of age and challenged at mid-gestation with field strain 2308 brucellosis at a dose of 1 x 107 cfu via conjunctival inoculation. Results of this study are outlined below: Numbers of live vs. dead bison calves following 2308 challenge: GROUP LIVE CALVES Abortions/stillborns/dead calves Non-vaccinated controls 18 9 1 x RB51 21 7 3 x RB51 20 8 Colonization of bison calves with strain 2308: GROUP INFECTED CALVES NON-INFECTED CALVES Non-infected calves 27 0 1 x RB51 28 0 3 x RB51 19 9 Dr. Tom Roffe discussed research on newly developed DNA vaccines and alternative delivery methods, such as micro-encapsulated vaccines which could be delivered through the oral and nasal mucosa. He also discussed ballistics problems of the "bio-bullet," which affect it's accuracy and range and suggested that further refinement is needed. Montana Department of Livestock officials reported that they sent four seronegative bulls to slaughter last fall. The bulls were just outside of the park. One was shot in the field, three were captured and sent to slaughter. MDOL intends to continue use of the Card test alone (a qualitative test which determines the presence or absence of antibodies to brucellosis exposure) in the field for testing captured bison. Research on the Fluorescent Polarization Assay (FPA), a quantitative test that determines the level of brucellosis antibodies present in a blood sample, is ongoing. Seronegative bison from a private herd are being used for the study. Scientists are evaluating both the sensitivity and specificity of this assay for detecting actual brucellosis infection in bison captured in the field. They want to insure that this method does not cross react with antibodies to other organisms, which may be present in blood samples. However, it will not be ready for use in the field this season. Idaho is concerned about their brucellosis free status. Last spring migrating elk from feed grounds in Wyoming migrated into Idaho and transmitted field strain brucellosis to a cattle herd there. The owner of the herd had been feeding the elk alongside her cattle. The herd was killed and adjacent cattle herds were screened for brucellosis. No other reactors were found. The owner has replaced the cattle herd and erected a fence to keep out wildlife. Another outbreak in Idaho could jeopardize it's brucellosis free status. Since elk are vaccinated against brucellosis with strain 19 on Wyoming's feed grounds, there is a question of why these elk were infectious. Rick Wallen, Bison Biologist for YNP, reported that Yellowstone's bison herd is in good shape this year. It has been a mild winter in the park and they are doing well. He also stated that most of the herd has remained near the interior of the park and reported adequate forage quality and quantity. ---------------------------------- * Last Words The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. Wendell Berry ************************************************************************ List-Subscribe: mailto:Stop-the-Slaughter-on@vortex.wildrockies.org List-Unsubscribe: mailto:Stop-the-Slaughter-off@vortex.wildrockies.org News Submissions or Problems: mailto:bfc-media@wildrockies.org