[Mb-civic] Park Officials Slaughter More Than 750 Yellowstone Buffalo- from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

[Barbara Siomos]

This is so sad...

peace,
barbara


-----Original Message-----
From: info at leonardpeltier.org
Sent: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 11:05:22 -0800
To: barbarasiomos38 at msn.com
Subject: FW: *Park Officials Slaughter More Than 750 Yellowstone Buffalo- from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN (BFC)

P.O. Box 957

West Yellowstone, MT  59758

(P) 406-646-0070

(F) 406-646-0071

BFC-Media at wildrockies.org

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

 


PARK OFFICIALS SLAUGHTER MORE THAN 750 YELLOWSTONE BUFFALO
Park Service Ignores Mandate and Caters to Livestock Industry

For Immediate Release, February 15, 2006
Contact Stephany Seay (406) 646-0070

GARDINER, MONTANA.  Today, wranglers at Yellowstone National Park captured
another sixty-nine wild buffalo in the Stephens Creek Capture Facility,
within Yellowstone's northern boundary.  This capture brings Yellowstone's
February capture total to 262 wild buffalo.

"The Park Service works for the American people who have repeatedly urged
them to stop slaughtering buffalo and to take proactive measures to ensure
their future," said Stephany Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC).
"Instead Yellowstone officials choose to ignore the public and continue to
slaughter buffalo."

Since Monday, the National Park Service (NPS) has sent 171 buffalo to
slaughter.  None have been tested for brucellosis, the supposed reason for
the Park's aggressive management.  The NPS sent eighty-six buffalo to
slaughter this morning, fifty on Tuesday, and fifty-two on Monday.  As in
January, Montana has refused to transport the buffalo to slaughter,
prompting involvement from the US Departments of Agriculture and Homeland
Security.


So far this year, the NPS has captured nearly 1,000 wild Yellowstone buffalo
and has sent nearly 800 to slaughter.  In January the NPS captured 672 wild
buffalo, sending 583 to slaughter and 86 calves to the Corwin Springs
quarantine facility where at least half will eventually be slaughtered.
Three buffalo died in the Stephens Creek capture facility in January from
injuries and mishandling by government officials. 

"Yellowstone's buffalo slaughter is disgraceful and unnecessary," said BFC's
Mike Mease.  "Rather than expending its limited resources on capturing and
slaughtering buffalo, the Park Service should work to safeguard critical
winter habitat outside Park boundaries."

The Yellowstone bison herd, America's only continuously wild herd, now
numbers fewer than 4,000 animals. Wild bison are a migratory species native
to North America and once spanned the continent, numbering an estimated 30
to 50 million.

Some of the bison captured by the NPS migrated onto or near the Royal Teton
Ranch, owned by the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT), and located
within North America's largest wildlife migration corridor directly adjacent
to Yellowstone's northern boundary.  In 1999 U.S. taxpayers spent $13
million on conservation easements to allow wild bison to access these lands.
The deal remains unfinished.  CUT owns less than 150 head of cattle.

Fear that bison may transmit brucellosis to cattle is the purported
justification for the aggressive management of wild buffalo by state and
federal agencies.  Yet there has never been a documented case of wild bison
transmitting brucellosis to livestock, even during the decades before the
current plan was enacted.  None of the adult bison slaughtered by the Park
Service this year were first tested for brucellosis.

On Tuesday, the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) forced Montana Fish,
Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to again suspend Montana's bison hunt along
Yellowstone's northern boundary.  DOL agents shot a bull bison that they
claim was a threat to a small herd of privately owned cattle.  Bull bison
pose no risk of transmitting the cattle-borne disease brucellosis. 

The NPS and the DOL defend their actions under the Interagency Bison
Management Plan (IBMP).  Under the IBMP, wild bison are largely confined to
Yellowstone National Park, which lacks critical winter range.  The
state-federal IBMP was purportedly crafted to "protect and maintain a wild,
free-roaming population of Yellowstone bison" while maintaining Montana's
brucellosis-free status.  In reality, the livestock industry is the Plan's
sole beneficiary. Under the IBMP, bison are routinely slaughtered, shot,
hazed, and otherwise prevented from carrying out their natural migration,
all of which alter their behavior and erodes their wildness.  BFC opposes
the IBMP and advocates for protected bison habitat in Montana, as well as
more sensible, livestock-based risk management, including fencing and
vaccination of domestic cattle in Montana.

 

 

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, everyday, to
stop the slaughter of the wild Yellowstone buffalo. Volunteers defend the
buffalo on their native habitat and advocate for their protection. BFC video
footage and photos are available upon request and may be viewed at
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe,   send a blank message to lpdc-on at mail-list.com
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to lpdc-off at mail-list.com
To change your email address, send a message to lpdc-change at mail-list.com
    with your old address in the Subject: line



To unsubscribe, click on the following web page.
http://cgi.mail-list.com/u?ln=lpdc&nm=barbarasiomos38@msn.com


This message was launched into cyberspace to barbarasiomos38 at msn.com