Battle over Yellowstone bison featured in new TV show

A new one-hour special about the conflict surrounding Yellowstone National Park's bison herd is set to premiere on the cable network Planet Green on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 10 p.m.

Called Buffalo Battle, the show is the pilot episode of a potential series and tracks the work of activists with The Buffalo Field Campaign, an environmental group based in West Yellowstone, MT.

For thirteen years, Field Campaign volunteers have used direct action techniques to oppose the slaughter and management of Yellowstone bison, considered by some to be America's last wild, genetically pure herd. More than 6,000 wild bison have been killed when they left the safety of Yellowstone Park, as part of a plan to manage the cattle disease brucellosis. Bison carry brucellosis and livestock officials argue the migrating animals may transmit the disease to the region's cattle. But Field Campaign activists say the bison pose little or no threat of transmitting the bacterium. A Planet Green film crew spent more than two weeks in the Yellowstone area in May 2009 to document the work of the activists and the state and federal officials trying to manage the bison.

Agents used a helicopter, ATV's and horses to round up and move the bison. Activists opposed the relocation, or "hazing" of the bison, particularly during the spring calving season. They used video surveillance, coordinated wilderness patrols and other direct action techniques to protest the government's work and to gather evidence that relocation is unsafe for the bison and other sensitive wildlife.