Tell Yellowstone National Park: We Refuse to Allow You to Capture and Slaughter Wild Bison!
Yellowstone Bison Update from the Field
December 20, 2012
Young buffalo bed down on a frosty winter’s day.
Before wild bison have even begun their annual migration to their winter habitat in Montana, State, federal, and tribal governments — including Yellowstone National Park –are aiming to kill hundreds of wild buffalo this winter through hunting, slaughter, or both. The agencies state that they want to “even the sex ratio” and have placed a heavy target on female buffalo, wanting to kill at least 400 female buffalo that migrate north of the Park into the Gardiner Basin. The herds that migrate north include buffalo from both the Northern and Central herds, which also means that the Central herds (which also migrate west) will be doubly impacted by hunting and slaughter.
Yellowstone National Park states that a “skewed sex ratio” has resulted from years of capture and slaughter operations, which have removed more bulls than cows from the population. In other words the government is saying they will slaughter more buffalo to mitigate the impact of slaughtering so many buffalo. Talk about playing God in Yellowstone.
With these plans aimed to placate Montana’s livestock interests, Yellowstone National Park threatens the buffalo’s immediate survival and evolutionary potential. Yellowstone’s plans to capture and slaughter wild bison are absolutely contrary to their mission to preserve and protect plant and animal species unimpaired for present and future generations. The wild bison of the Yellowstone ecosystem make up America’s last continuously wild population. Wild bison are ecologically extinct throughout their native, historic range, and currently number fewer than 4,300 individuals. Wild bison once teemed across the North American continent in the tens of millions, but today the last remnant herds only exist in and around Yellowstone and are in dire need of protection.
TAKE ACTION! Using the sample letter below, in your own words tell Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk that you absolutely oppose any capture or slaughter of wild buffalo. Yellowstone is mandated by law to protect wild bison, not cater to Montana’s cattle politics. Tell Superintendent Wenk to stop being a puppet for Montana livestock interests, pull out of the draconian Interagency Bison Management Plan, and to stand up for the wildlife that the American people have placed in his care. Wild bison are a natural, national treasure, the prehistoric and rightful roamers of North America, and we will not stand by and allow Yellowstone or Montana’s cattle industry to jeopardize their future for any reason.
Alternately to using this sample letter, you can contact Superintendent Wenk directly at:
Daniel Wenk, Superintendent
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190-0168
(307) 344-2002 phone
(307) 344-2014 fax
[email protected]
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field
and in the policy arena to protect America’s last wild buffalo.
The best way to help is to donate and help us close 2012 in the black and as strong as possible. Contributions are tax-deductible and will directly fund BFC’s frontlines work to protect the buffalo. Support us today and take the added benefit of writing your contribution off on your 2012 taxes.
By the Numbers
The last wild population is currently estimated at fewer than 4,300 individual buffalo. Wild bison are currently ecologically extinct throughout their native range in North America.
2012-2013
Total Buffalo Killed: 31
Government Capture:
Buffalo Released from Capture:
Government Slaughter:
Held for Government Experiment:
Died In Government Trap:
Miscarriage in Government Trap:
State Treaty: 1
Treaty Hunts: 30
Quarantine:
Shot by Agents:
Highway Mortality:
Total Killed in Previous Years
2011-2012: 33
2010-2011: 227
2009-2010: 7
2008-2009: 22
2007-2008: 1,631
Total Killed Since 2000: 4,039
*includes lethal government action, trap-related fatalities, quarantine/experiments, hunts, and highway mortality
