Testimony: Buffalo Treatment "Inhumane and Unacceptable"

An example of a buffalo holding facility

From some of the written testimony today before a congressional committee investigating the treatment of buffalo at Yellowstone, unique among U.S. herds because they are members of the country's only continuous wild herd:

From statement of U.S. Representative Nick Rahall - "Like the monuments on our National Mall or the dome on the Capitol building, the bison [buffalo] is an American icon . . . Why is the Department of the Interior murdering its beloved mascot? We are told it is due to the threat of disease. Once they leave the park they can come into contact with cattle grazing on public and private land and some of the bison may carry a disease which can be dangerous to cows. But here is the critical point: the transfer of this disease from bison to cattle has never happened in the wild. Never . . . Slaughter is not management . . . it is an approach from a bygone era."

U.S. Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle: "There is ample documentation that the treatment of bison in and around Yellowstone National Park in inhumane and unacceptable . . . animals being run to exhaustion, corralling that does not guard against bison goring each other in a panic, animals driven onto frozen lakes that results in their falling through the ice and into frigid waters, mishandling that results in injury and death, overstocking transport trailers, and shooting bison at a slaughter plant because the animals were allowed to inadvertently escape their holding areas.
"This deplorable set of circumstances reveals the clumsy and unprofessional handling of the animals by the state and the federal government. In short, these animals are handled like livestock rather than extremely powerful wild animals."