Buffalo Field Campaign: 18 years of protecting the wild bison of Yellowstone Park

“We all have a stake in this because these are a gift that are all the worlds.”

In 1997 Mike Mease was outraged by how the wild buffalo in Yellowstone Park were being treated “it was disgusting…any buffalo that dared to be a buffalo and migrate out of the high-elevation plateaus of Yellowstone Park was shot on sight.” Mease co-founded the Buffalo Field Campaign with Rosalie Little Thunder to place volunteers on the ground to bear witness to what was happening to the buffalo that migrated outside of the parks boundaries. “I thought if we had a front-lines presence and had video cameras and still cameras we could 1) show the world what’s going on and 2) keep these agencies in check and make them liable for every action. “Buffalo have been hazed by helicopters and shot in an effort to keep them within park boundaries.”

Mease blames the Montanta Department of Livestock for how the buffalo are being treated, in particular their management plan that aims to keep the bison herd at 3,000.

The buffalo in Yellowstone are the last remaining genetically pure herd in the country and Mease says people around the country should be concerned about their fate “we all grew up knowing the history of this beautiful species there used to be anywhere from 30-60 million that roamed the North American continent “these are the last of that distinct herd, of those old herds.”

Buffalo Field Campaign: 18 years of protecting the wild bison of Yellowstone Park kgnu

Mike Mease will speak about the Buffalo Field Campaign on Friday October 23rd at a fundraiser gala at the Red Shoe Studio in Denver with live music by Onda and a silent auction and a live auction.