There are plenty of things I could be writing about here…but for some reason the State of Montana keeps forcing me to write about the Yellowstone buffalo. Just weeks after Governor Schweitzer publicly pledged that no more buffalo would be sent to slaughter this season…they sent nine more buffalo to slaughter…

We’ve covered the gruesome death toll for America’s last free-roaming bison all over the place on Switchboard. We’ve talked about the loss of what is now almost two thirds of the buffalo in the Yellowstone herds. We’ve talked about the unnecessarily brutal tactics they are using to harass the animals (check out video). We talked about the ludicrous waste of tax payer money that this whole thing sucks up… But we have not talked a lot about the folks who agree with us.

There are lots of them.

NRDC’s e-activists sent more than 100,000 letters and emails to the Governor asking him to take action.

Just as compelling, a group of landowners filed suit this week against the state for trampling private property laws near the park. This is notable because private property rights are one of the two main arguments the state uses to explain their thuggish treatment of the animals.

The President of the Hebgen Lake Estates Homeowners Association has repeatedly challenged wildlife officials who are trespassing on the Association’s land to forcibly remove the buffalo. Their land sits in the Horse Butte area where NRDC has called for buffalo harassment to stop because no cattle are in the area, making disease transmission (the state’s other argument for hazing) impossible. The Association has repeatedly issued letters to anyone who would read them that defined the homeowners’ protective covenant to allow buffalo on their lands. But despite their wishes, wildlife officials keep coming illegally. And so the Association is asserting their rights in the courts. By doing so, they are joining NRDC and the chorus of concerned voices who are calling upon state and federal officials to take immediate action to update the Interdepartmental Bison Management Plan.

It is time for the Governor, APHIS, the Department of Livestock, the Park Service and the rest of the IBMP administrators to hear the music and work out a solution that will address everyone’s needs.