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| Wild
Cattle News
Table of contents 2008
Over 40 delegates from across South-east Asia have this week agreed to a new regional conservation strategy aimed to reverse the dramatic decline of Asian wild cattle and buffalo species. The landmark meeting was held over six days in Vĩnh Phúc Province, Vietnam.
All nine species of Asian wild cattle and buffaloes are threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ 2008. The worst affected is the Kouprey (Bos sauveli), a large forest-dwelling ox, about the same size as a Water Buffalo. Last seen in Cambodia in 1969, it has not been located since and may now be extinct in the wild. Asian wild cattle and buffaloes play a vital role in their natural environment. They are an important prey species and also help maintain habitat diversity through grazing. Wild cattle species also represent a major reservoir of genetic material that could help scientists safeguard and improve domestic cattle breeds throughout the world. Poaching and habitat destruction and degradation are amongst the major threats facing these species. Recent field research shows there is a real danger that Asia's eight other wild cattle and buffalo species are likely to suffer the same fate as the Kouprey unless immediate action is taken. Representatives from 11 countries comprising of academics, experts, policy makers, NGOs and government officials, came to the planning workshop hosted by the IUCN/SSC Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group and The Wild Cattle Conservation Project in Vietnam (CIRAD, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development). The event was held in Tam Dao National Park and was sponsored by the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM), Earthwatch Institute and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Amongst the actions agreed for the Regional Conservation Strategy were; to strengthen enforcement of legislation on wildlife hunting and trade, to improve the effectiveness of protected areas and to manage interactions with domestic livestock that could lead to disease transmission and inter-breeding. In the coming months, further workshops will be held in South and South-east Asia, to continue the process of saving these species from extinction. For more information about the regional conservation strategy please contact: Simon Hedges, Wildlife Conservation Society, Large Bovini Working Group Coordinator of the IUCN/SSC Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group and member of IUCN/SSC Species Conservation Planning Task Force James Burton, Earthwatch Institute and Chair and Dwarf Buffalo Working Group Coordinator of the IUCN/SSC Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group Rosie Woodroffe, Zoological Society of London and member of IUCN Species Conservation Planning Task Force Miguel Pedrono, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development and member of the IUCN/SSC Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group
KATHMANDU, Nepal – A recent census has confirmed the presence of 37 gaurs (Bos gaurus) in Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR). The census was conducted from 24-27 May 2008 by the PWR in coordination with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, WWF Nepal – Terai Arc Landscape Program, Nepal Army and Buffer Zone Management Committee. Nine elephants and twelve recorders participated in the count.
The Chitwan National Park has 296 gaurs as per the census in 2007, showing an increase of 98 individual animals from the last count a decade ago. Although not confirmed, gaurs are believed to be found in Triyuga of Udaipur district in eastern Nepal. The gaur, also known as the Indian bison, is the largest wild cattle species in the world, measuring up to 2 metres at the shoulders and weighing up to 900 kg. In Nepal, the gaur is listed as protected animal, as vulnerable in IUCN Red Data Book, and is listed in Appendix I of CITES. With only around 1000 left in the wild, their numbers are declining due to over-hunting, habitat destruction and exposure to diseases of domestic cattle such as rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease and anthrax. Gaurs are found in eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, southern China, and the Malay Peninsula. They inhabit evergreen and deciduous forest hills and grassy clearings up to 2,500m. Gaurs prefer to eat green grass, but in its absence will eat coarse dry grass, forbs, and the leaves of some trees and creepers. Despite their massive size, gaurs are wary and avoid contact with humans. They live in small herds, but the herd does not defend any specific territory. They prefer to stay around large forested areas along with grasslands to graze in.
By Yayorin (Yayasan Orangutan Indonesia)
In 2005, an Indonesian conservation organisation, Yayasan Orangutan, gathered some information and data about Banteng in Kalimantan. According to the local people, banteng were often seen at saltlicks in the forest. Although the team found their tracks and faeces many times in these saltlick areas, they were not completely convinced of these findings because it was possible that they belonged to domesticated cows that were common in Belantikan. On November 20th, 2007, Yayorin team conducted another survey, and they found two well-preserved banteng tracks; one was about 12 cm x 11.5 cm and another one was about 14 cm x 13 cm. This implied the presence of a male and a female. In addition, the tracks were also found in a habitat dominated by bamboo trees. On April 11th, 2008, two local villagers found twobanteng (mother and child) while on a hunting expedition. They killed the mother using spears and captured the calf.. Additionally, some villagers who regularly go into the forest to hunt pigs also encountered more than ten banteng between January and February 2008.
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana, March 4, 2008 (ENS) - Bison advocates and local landowners today asked federal and state officials to stop capturing and slaughtering Yellowstone bison in a cattle-free zone outside the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park, until a review is conducted of changes in land ownership in the Horse Butte area. "The government has been killing our nation's last remaining wild bison, claiming it is necessary to prevent the spread of brucellosis to cattle on the Horse Butte Peninsula," said Michael Mease, campaign coordinator for the Buffalo Field Campaign. "There are no more cattle on Horse Butte, so that excuse rings hollow. It's about time the people in charge get behind the locals who support wild bison being on Horse Butte without harassment by the government."
Horse Butte is a 24,000 acre peninsula consisting of federal and private land that extends westward from the west boundary of Yellowstone National Park into Hebgen Lake. The peninsula is surrounded on its north, west, and south sides by the lake. Yellowstone bison typically migrate to the area in late winter and spring seeking forage only to be met by state and federal officials operating a bison trap that has already been used this winter to ship 30 wild bison to slaughter. Recent land management changes have eliminated cattle grazing from the Horse Butte peninsula. A court order ended grazing on a National Forest grazing allotment on Horse Butte in 2002. Last year, new owners purchased the sole remaining cattle grazing operation on the peninsula, removed the cattle and declared their property open to Yellowstone bison. Those purchasers, Rob and Janae Galanis, are among 39 Horse Butte landowners who joined the Buffalo Field Campaign in calling for a halt to the capture and slaughter of bison on Horse Butte given the complete absence of cattle from the area year-round. "When we purchased the Munns Ranch, one of our goals for the property was to willingly remove the last cattle from the Butte. However, yearly cattle grazing on the ranch has kept the grasses down, which has helped deter potential grass fires on both the ranch and the Butte and has also kept down the spreading of noxious weeds," said Rob Galanis. "For these reasons, we believe the ranch must continue to have a grazing component, which we hope to achieve naturally by allowing the bison to continue migrating out of Yellowstone National Park and on the ranch, as they have historically always migrated. To help achieve this goal we renamed the ranch The Yellowstone Ranch Preserve, the YRP, and posted the YRP as a 'Bison Safe Zone' to create a sanctuary for bison activity. In order to achieve this goal the hazing and slaughter of bison by the Department of Livestock on the Butte must cease," he said. The bison advocates submitted their request to federal and state officials in the form of a letter written on their behalf by the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice. The letter asks the officials to stop capturing and killing Yellowstone's bison and to initiate a new environmental impact study to assess changes to an Interagency Bison Management Plan in light of the changed circumstances on Horse Butte. "The government promised the public an adaptive management plan for bison; now it is time for them to adapt their management," said Earthjustice lawyer Tim Preso. "The government's bison plan was created at a time when cattle grazed across much of Horse Butte every summer. Now that the cattle are gone the plan needs to be changed to become more tolerant of Yellowstone's iconic bison." The bison advocates wrote that, in addition to its "unnecessarily brutal treatment of bison," the government's continued implementation of aggressive bison management is a waste of taxpayer dollars.
State and local governments spend more than $2 million each year to haze, capture and slaughter Yellowstone bison in the interest of an ever smaller group of livestock operations outside park boundaries, the advocates say. Agents use helicopters, snowmobiles, off-road vehicles, and motorcycles to haze bison that leave the western Park boundary. Agents capture those bison that do not flee from this hazing and test them for exposure to brucellosis; those testing positive are shipped to slaughter. During winters, such as the current winter, when the Yellowstone bison population exceeds 3,000 animals, agents are authorized to capture and ship to slaughter all bison leaving the west park boundary, without testing any for exposure to brucellosis. Agents shoot bison that cannot be hazed or captured. "The government is spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to protect cattle that aren't even here," said Mease. "It doesn't make sense and it is no way to manage some of our nation's most revered wildlife. The bison slaughter on Horse Butte should stop." Horse Butte is prime calving habitat for the Yellowstone buffalo, as the peninsula has south-facing slopes that green up early in the spring. Hebgen Lake and riparian wetlands along the Madison River provide habitat for trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, bald and golden eagles, and moose. Grizzly bear, grey wolf, elk, black bear and coyote all inhabit Horse Butte.
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