Buffalo Nightmare: 3 Days of Taxpayer-Funded Yellowstone Helicopter Hazing

According to the Buffalo Field Campaign, this taxpayer-funded helicopter hazing of wild bison – including pregnant females and new-born calves – took place within the borders of Yellowstone National Park, as well as on the Gallatin National Forest. This picture is from within Yellowstone National Park.
According to the Buffalo Field Campaign, this taxpayer-funded helicopter hazing of wild bison – including pregnant females and new-born calves – took place within the borders of Yellowstone National Park, as well as on the Gallatin National Forest. This picture is from within Yellowstone National Park.

According to my friends at the Buffalo Field Campaign:

May 13, 14 and 15 a tax payer funded helicopter harassed the Yellowstone ecosystem, both within Yellowstone National Park and portions of the Gallatin National Forest just outside the Park.  Flying at times 20 feet above the earth and Madison River the management actions disrupted all in the area. Pregnant buffalo Moms and new born calves where ran up to 12 miles in the hazing operation.

You can watch some “highlights” of this taxpayer-funded torture of America’s last wild bison on public lands in Yellowstone National Park and the Gallatin National Forest, but be warned that some of the images are likely to turn your stomach and make you mad.

This baby bison with a broken leg gets no relief or sympathy from the tax-payer funded helicopter hazing operation in Yellowstone National Park and the Gallatin National Forest.
This baby bison with a broken leg gets no relief or sympathy from the tax-payer funded helicopter hazing operation in Yellowstone National Park and the Gallatin National Forest.

UPDATE:  I just got an email from a family that lives in the Horse Butte area just outside of Yellowstone National Park. This family stated that US Department of Homeland Security agents came onto their private land and removed their “no trespassing” signs, told the family never to put up the “no trespassing” signs again, claiming it was a threat to federal agents.  Yep, that’s right people, the US Department of Homeland Security is spending your tax dollars hazing wild bison with helicopters!

 

12 thoughts on “Buffalo Nightmare: 3 Days of Taxpayer-Funded Yellowstone Helicopter Hazing”

  1. Seems an incredibly one-sided post. Would have been helpful to provide at least some information, maybe just a link, as to why the government would be going to extraordinary measures to move bison with helicopters.

    I don’t know much about the bison hazing debate, but I do know there is always at least two sides to every story. Upon a couple minutes of internet sluething it seems the stated purpose of this activity is to prevent the spread of a bacteria-borne disease, brucellosis, that can cause cattle and bison to abort their calves. No pictures or videos of brucellosis infected Bison?

    Reply
    • Helicopters don’t need to be used to haze a slow moving bison any more than it should be used to move domestic Cattle. They don’t treat the Elk in this manner, and Elk have been found to transmit the disease and Bison have NOT. They are using this helicopter at taxpayer expense to move bison from habitat that has no, nor will have Cattle. The money wasted on a helicopter could go to fencing, A one time major expense then annual up keep. There are cattle in a small area for only two to 3 months out of an entire year. The danger is in the afterbirth. After the babies are on the ground there will be no cattle for over two weeks, and the afterbirth has been long gone. The wasteful spending is only part of what is wrong with not just this but the entire country.

      Reply
    • In reply to your question about WHY this hazing and killing is going on: do some research and you will find out it is for the cattle barons who said they will not share the grass {taxpayers own this grass and pay all upkeep} with the bison. They claim it as THEIRS. as well as all the fresh water in the area….their cattle are being raised for the ASIAN MARKET, not Americans. The BLM land BELONGS TO THE FUTURE AMERICANS—READ THE LAW AS IT WAS WRITTEN} The park rangers have to pinpoint the bison for the hunters on sattelite maps and hand it over to the hunters—-YOU, dear taxpayer pay for all of this, the gunman, the helicopters, the pilots and you also {or your ancestors} paid to breed the buffalo BACK INTO EXISTENCE after the whites almost completely wiped them out, now you’re paying to kill them again because a few rich guys OWN AMERICA. You dear taxpayer are paying to kill alll the wolves and coyotes so there are more elk for the rich guys to hunt—just wait and see the outcome, more herd deaths, fewer babies and no one gives a damn…if you want something done then petition YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT…if you want something done then petition YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT. Privatized forest rangers have been busted over & over killing EVERYTHING THAT LIVES IN OUR FORESTS…IT’S UP TO YOU TO STOP IT.

      Reply
  2. MD, My feelings exactly. Why is the tax-funded helicopter “hazing the Yellowstone ecosystem” (fraternity initiation)? Why are taxpayers funding the torture of these pregnant Buffalo moms and their calves with broken legs? What is the intent of Matt’s post?

    Reply
  3. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/brucellosis/downloads/bruc-facts.pdf
    View this site for information regarding the disease, Brusillosis, which can be carried by bison and will infect cattle. The DOL is in charge of seeing that doesn’t happen by hazing the wild buffalo back into Yellowstone but they are picking a time when the newborn babies are not ready for “stampede” style herding, many are injured every year. The Gov. corrals the bison, tests for the disease and sends the infected to slaughter or just simply slaughter, I don’t have the facts on that.

    Reply
    • Rose, thanks for your comment. Fact is there has never once been a reported case of a wild bison transmitting brusillosis to domestic cattle. However, there have been documented cases of wild elk transmitting brusillosis to domestic cattle….but the government doesn’t seem to spend millions paying for helicopters, ATV, etc to haze elk. In fact, the government helps create brusillosis in elk through the highly concentrated feeding stations outside of Jackson, WY.

      Here’s some more info on brusillosis:

      http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/science/brucellosismyth.html

      “The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) claims it is slaughtering the Yellowstone bison because they carry brucellosis. This claim rings hollow in light of a few facts: There has never been a documented transmission of brucellosis from wild bison to livestock. Even if buffalo were capable of spreading the disease, there are no cattle on these lands from mid-October to mid-June, making brucellosis transmission impossible.”

      http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/factsheets/brucellosisfacts.html

      Brucellosis was first detected in the Yellowstone Buffalo herd in 1917. The buffalo were exposed to brucellosis by domestic cattle that were grazed in the park and held in confinement with buffalo. Brucellosis is most commonly transmitted among and between species through ingestion of infected birthing materials. Yellowstone buffalo developed a natural immune response to brucellosis and do not typically suffer from the disease. It is believed that many buffalo may also have a genetic immunity to brucellosis. Failed pregnancies, the most common symptom of brucellosis, are relatively unknown in Yellowstone buffalo. The most likely mode of exposure among buffalo is ingestion of small amounts of bacteria from newborn live calves. Essentially, the buffalo in Yellowstone are vaccinating themselves for brucellosis, developing an immune response, and clearing the bacteria. There has never been a documented case of brucellosis transmission between buffalo and domestic cattle under natural conditions. In Grand Teton National Park, where vaccinated cattle and brucellosis exposed buffalo have been commingling for decades, no transmission has ever occurred. The chances of transmission between wild buffalo and vaccinated domestic cattle have been characterized as “very low”.

      Reply
      • good information! you should join the west yellowstone public forum on facebook! I have reposted your blog page there.

        Reply
  4. If any of these tactics that they use on these American Wild Bison, were used on a Rancher’s domestic cattle herd, the men doing it would be fired on the spot, The Horse Butte is a Peninsula and 4th side borders the National Park, For every Bison calf born on the Horse Butte is one less than would have been born in a pasture across the lake, that will have cattle. So wasting all that money on a helicopter is BS, To haze bison off that peninsul to begin with is BS. They want a viable hunt, they need a herd to hunt, not a crap shoot. These bison can feed more people than any elk, moose, deer, or bear. They are a tourist attraction in a Basin that REQUIRES trourist dollars to survive, not cattle dollars. I have yet to hear, in over 50 years, anyone making reservations to come to this area to see cattle, or photograph cattle. BUT I have answered many questions on where the best opportunity is to photograph BISON. Not to mention the fact the Science does NOT back the Department of Livestock and their ‘reason’.

    Reply

Leave a Comment