The Montana Department of Livestock and federal officials have brutally slaughtered more than 1,200 buffalo outside of Yellowstone National Park over the past four winters. The killings continue to this day. The decimation America's last wild buffalo herd represents a national tragedy for all peoples. Native peoples, who have a deep spiritual and cultural relationship with the great buffalo, are outraged and grief stricken by the murders.

Buffalo are a keystone species essential to the ecological health of the Great Plains, and central to the cultural health of plains tribes. The murder of 60 million buffalo a century ago was a deliberate military assault on Native peoples and made room for a cattle dominated economy on the prairie. Today, buffalo are again being killed to accommodate cows and faulty agricultural policy. The state of Montana and federal agencies claim the killings are necessary because buffalo may allegedly spread a disease called brucellosis to cattle. There has never been one case of a buffalo transmitting this disease to a cow in the wild.

Restore the Buffalo Nation

The birth of the White Buffalo Calf symbolizes hope for the re-birth of the Buffalo Nation

While the state of Montana and federal agencies kill Yellowstone buffalo, Native peoples are bringing back our elder brother–and in doing so, restoring the health of the people and the land. More than 47 tribes are members of the InterTribal Bison Cooperative and have established their own buffalo herds, and numerous grassroots projects are being developed to restore buffalo to Native lands and communities. It would make sense to relocate Yellowstone buffalo who wander outside the Park to tribal herds and federal grasslands, rather than slaughtering them. And there are other viable options, such as vaccinating cows and re-acquiring lands the federal government has designated for wildlife but leases to cattlemen for grazing. Your support is needed to pressure the Park Service and state of Montana to cease killing buffalo and implement a plan that provides for the sustainability of the herd and the ecosystem.

What You Can Do

The National Park Service and other federal and state agencies have proposed several plans for managing the Yellowstone buffalo herd over the next 15 years. All of the plans have one thing in common: lethal control of buffalo. More than 65,000 people have already voiced their opposition to these plans. Help create a stronger voice and actualize change!

Please express your opposition to the Yellowstone buffalo slaughter!

Contact Buffalo Field Campaign:

Buffalo Field Campaign
PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(406) 646-0070
buffalo@wildrockies.org