Incidents in Yellowstone National Park

Cody J. Cyson, of Minnetonka, Minnesota and Thomas L. Brown of East Hardwick, Vermont, were each charged with one count of entering a closed area and one count of interference with an agency function in Yellowstone National Park on March 7, 2018. Both individuals were contacted by park law enforcement in the Stephens Creek Administrative Facility on March 6, 2018 just after 5:00 am. Cyson and Brown has used a steel tube and chain to secure themselves to the squeeze chute in order to disrupt the shipping of the buffalo in the pens.

In a separate incident, Hanna F. Ponder, of Donnelly, Idaho, was charged on March 7, 2018, with one count of entering a closed area in Yellowstone National Park. Ponder was located by law enforcement in the bison closure of the Reese Creek drainage area during the morning hours of March 6, 2018. Ponder stated she had been walking the creek looking at birds.

All three individuals made their initial appearance in U.S. District Court on March 7, 2018 where the government made a motion for detention of the individuals and a bond hearing is scheduled for March 12 at 10:30 a.m.