You get two quotes today, because I just couldn't choose between them. I also couldn't find a picture that expressed the sentiments of the quotes, so I just attached a couple of bison pictures. There will be a photo tip about those pics at the end of the post.
"Count your blessings. A grateful heart attracts more joy, love and prosperity. " Cheryl Richardson
"The key to happiness is realizing that it's not what happens to you that matters, it's how you choose to respond." Keith D.Harrell
When you're photographing people or animals take a close up shot, but also take a picture that gives the viewer a "sense of place". It helps your photos to "tell a story". We were driving through Yellowstone in May & encountered a HUGE traffic jam. It didn't take us long to discover the reason for the problem. Rangers & cowboys were herding a large herd of bison from the western part of Yellowstone to the Old Faithful area. They were on the road and off the road, depending on the terraine. We've been to Yellowstone many times, but had never seen this before. With such young calves, I'm not sure if it was good or bad, though. Often, if they are moved to fast, the calves can't keep up without getting hurt & an injured bison calf will not survive in this wild environment. The treatment of bison in and around Yellowstone is a very controversial topic right now, because environmentalists believe that, for the wild bison to survive, we have to protect the bloodlines of the original bison & not treat them like domestic cattle.
4 comments:
That's not exactly what you were seeing, unfortunately.
What this was was a hazing operation, not because the buffalo were causing traffic but because of buffalo politics outside the park.
Wild bison are not allowed in the state of Montana after May 15 for reasons too long and too tragic to go into right now. So, what happens sometimes is that the buffalo are captured and shipped to slaughter. This year - because the previous year's kill total was a record - they chose instead to "haze" or force the bison back into the park.
This was done with helicopters, ATVs, and horses - several bison calves broke their legs during this year's operations.
So, what happens is that the Montana Department of Livestock and the National Park Service force the bison in Montana far inside the park, well into Wyoming. Because there were already a lot of bison in that area, the Park Service decided to force the bison in the interior from the Madison Junction area toward Old Faithful - the furthest I've ever heard of hazing operations.
It was like dominoes. It's also extremely controversial in these parts, especially for many who would like to see wild buffalo in Montana.
For more on what happens, you should see http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
I personally am involved with the organizing for wild buffalo in the Bozeman area. I also keep a newspaper on all things Yellowstone, which is how I found your blog post. Several people visiting during that time mistakenly believed that the reason for the delays was simply bison in the road. Unfortunately, those bison were forced en masse from their grazing areas, many of them having just given birth to calves.
For more on this, you might check back to the May and June archives of the newspaper.
Your pictures were the clearest I've seen of what was happening well INSIDE the park.
Thanks for sharing,
Jim
Jim, I didn't mean that I thought the bison were being herded because they were causing traffic jams. I knew that wasn't the case and that they were being herded into the interior of the park, because of the controversy surrounding bison in Montana. When we were there in May, there was an article in the paper about calves with broken legs due to the herding & I think that's terrible. The bison that were in the park, however, weren't being moved very quickly so, hopefully, that move didn't cause too much damage to the calves. The slaughter of the bison last year was absolutely unconscionable. Between that & the harsh Winter, Yellowstone lost at least half their bison herd. I've been a member of the Yellowstone Association for many years & was terribly disappointed at the part they played in the slaughter & hazing of the bison. I have many pictures of the bison being herded inside the park, so if you'd like to see more, just let me know. I think there are a few more on my websit, but not too many. Keep up the good work & thanks for commenting.
Thanks for being well informed and keeping others informed. I think that's the hardest part of it; there's so little knowledge of what's happening even though it's gone on for so long.
I've noticed buffalo moving closer and closer to the park boundary in recent visits on the west side; I'm going down to the park soon to see what's going on.
And, crazy but true story ... camped on the Falls River near Cave Falls in the SW corner a month ago; I went into the park toward the Bechler Ranger Station, and there were cattle inside the park boundary! I've got pictures; two days before, a bison was shot and killed that had made it into Idaho.
Jim, thanks for the info. That's crummy about the bison getting killed in Idaho. If bison can't go outside the park, why can cattle go inside the park? Interesting.
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