Non-violent tactics used to help buffalo

by: Jenny Noyce

North America: Since 1999 the Department of Livestock has captured hundreds of buffalo. For the first time in months, some of them are relatively safe due to non-violent tactics used by Akiva Silver, who is trying to stop the capture and killing of buffalo in Horse Butte, an area near Yellowstone National Park.

Silver sat perched upon a platform that is suspended from the top of a 45 foot-long pole in the centre of a trap. The pole stands straight up from the centre of the holding pen and is supported by ropes tied to walls and gates, making the holding pen inoperable while Silver remains on the perch.

Silver has remained on the perch for more than 30 hours and has suspended a banner, which says “Bison Trap Closed to Protect Wildlife.”

Local DOL officers, Tyler Robinson of the U.S. Forest Service, Gallatin County police officers, West Yellowstone Police, and National Park Service officers arrived to try to convince Silver to come down. They spent most of their morning staring at the structure, and then the DOL officers regrouped to move the buffalo to the park instead of using the trap to capture them.

The DOL officers rode their ATV’s and fired explosive shells into the air in order to frighten the buffalo and chase them more than five miles past the trap and into Yellowstone. While the DOL claims to have no intention of capturing buffalo, the Buffalo Field Campaign contends that in February the DOL caught a herd of 18, and that in 2002 more than a hundred buffalo were captured and slaughtered.

Silver says “I am doing my best by non-violent means to stop this assault on the buffalo. I believe that as long as I can remain inside the Horse Butte trap, no buffalo will be captured.” Due to Silver’s non-violent action, some buffalo were able to enjoy part of their spring migration until they were chased back into the Yellowstone.

Source: Buffalo Field Campaign's Newsletter
For more information or to see a video of the action go to http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo

Source: Buffalo Field Campaign