The fences Joe Ricketts erected around his ranch in the middle of the Blackfeet reservation are a deadly hazard for wildlife.
Almost immediately after their new billionaire neighbor put up miles of 5ft fences around his Montana ranch, complaints started coming in to the Blackfeet tribe.
In photos and videos captured by Blackfeet tribal members and reviewed by the Guardian, animals such as elk, deer, moose and grizzly bears can be seen struggling to navigate around or over the fences as they follow a historical migration path. Sometimes, they are trapped in corners of the fences, or wounded and limping after failed attempts to jump over the barriers. On numerous occasions, mother moose have been seen separated from their young.
“It would be like fencing people out of Walmart,” says Buzz Cobell, the director of the Blackfeet fish and wildlife department and Blackfeet tribal member. “It wouldn’t take long for people to start screaming bloody murder.”
The fences are owned by the founder of the financial services firm TD Ameritrade, Joe Ricketts, and they enclose his commercial bison ranch, Grizzly Ridge Bison Ranch. It’s a sprawling 32,000-acre property on Blackfeet reservation land. Tribal members complain that Ricketts is a terrible neighbor, failing in his responsibility to work with the tribe to keep wildlife safe.
The billionaire blocking off Montana’s wildlife: ‘Like fencing people out of Walmart’
Almost immediately after their new billionaire neighbor put up miles of 5ft fences around his Montana ranch, complaints started coming in to the Blackfeet tribe.
In photos and videos captured by Blackfeet tribal members and reviewed by the Guardian, animals such as elk, deer, moose and grizzly bears can be seen struggling to navigate around or over the fences as they follow a historical migration path. Sometimes, they are trapped in corners of the fences, or wounded and limping after failed attempts to jump over the barriers. On numerous occasions, mother moose have been seen separated from their young.
“It would be like fencing people out of Walmart,” says Buzz Cobell, the director of the Blackfeet fish and wildlife department and Blackfeet tribal member. “It wouldn’t take long for people to start screaming bloody murder.”
The fences are owned by the founder of the financial services firm TD Ameritrade, Joe Ricketts, and they enclose his commercial bison ranch, Grizzly Ridge Bison Ranch. It’s a sprawling 32,000-acre property on Blackfeet reservation land. Tribal members complain that Ricketts is a terrible neighbor, failing in his responsibility to work with the tribe to keep wildlife safe.
The billionaire blocking off Montana’s wildlife: ‘Like fencing people out of Walmart’