Earth’s Indigenous Army Makes Statement to Protect the Sacred

For Immediate Release:
February 20, 2017

Contact:
Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070

Gardiner, MT / Yellowstone National Park:
This morning a large banner depicting a buffalo and a tipi with the message “Protect the Sacred” was discovered by Buffalo Field Campaign patrols as they were documenting livestock trailers loaded with captured Yellowstone buffalo heading to the slaughter house. The banner was hung off of the Corwin Springs bridge that crosses the Yellowstone River, just a few miles north of Yellowstone National Park.

A short time later, Buffalo Field Campaign received the following statement:

A Call to Action: Save the Buffalo of Yellowstone Park:

As the last resisters in Standing Rock hold off the pipeline, so do the last remaining 5,000 indigenous Buffalo here at Yellowstone Park. Every morning up to 100 of the sacred Bison are exterminated during a government-sponsored population control program. Today, at dawn, at least fifty of our Buffalo brothers were shoved into trailers and hauled to slaughter. There are 1,500 Bison that are slated to be captured and slaughtered.

Yellowstone Herd Bison are descendants of twenty-three Great Plain's Bison who survived the 19th century extermenation campaign, managing to eke out a living in the corner of the National Park. Once, they numbered 60 million, and ranged the entire continent, supporting millions of Indigenous lives. Since 1901, they have managed to repopulate in this harsh reservation style habitat. However, each year through government mandate, Buffalo are trapped and slaughtered by contract killers–the pregnant mothers have their offspring ripped from their wombs. These last remaining Bison live precariously under govermental control and continue to be pushed into oblivion.

Our communities are made up of many different nations, belief systems and lifestyles. Each member plays a role and in a way that role resembles nature. Honeybee's work together to maintain their colony; buffalo, when going through hardship, will circle and protect the weak and when attacked, trees will signal other trees to start their self defense response before being invaded. On a micro level the change we create in every community is momentous as it encourages and unifies on a macro level.

This is a call to our relatives from all four directions to step forward in prayer and in action, to put an end to genocide and save the last wild roaming Buffalo, without the Buffalo we cease to exist.

Wake up! The Buffalo need your help!

In Memory of Rosalie Little Thunder, All Buffalo Nations, The Ancestors, and All Future Generations. For Mni Wiconi!

Earth's Indigenous Army

The Montana-based wild bison advocacy group, Buffalo Field Campaign, applauds this courageous action which will help draw more attention to the growing opposition to the maltreatment and slaughter of the country’s last continuously wild buffalo herds.

“This is great timing, as this comes on BFC’s last day of our Week of Action, so it tells us that others have heard the call, are paying close attention, and are taking steps to make their opposition to the slaughter of the sacred buffalo known,” said Buffalo Field Campaign media coordinator Stephany Seay.  “This banner is a testament to the resistance strengthening and solidarity growing throughout Native communities and earth defense allies.”