| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| Weekly
Update from the Field February 26, 2009 |
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Update from the Field
* Put the Buffalo on Obama's Radar
* Thank You for the Valentine's!
* Tatanka 2009 ~ Let's Rock for the Buffalo!
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
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* Update from the Field
Dear Buffalo Friends,
If you're wondering why you've not been hearing from us
each week, it is because things have been quiet and we
don't want to inundate you with emails when there is not
much to report. Rest assured, when spring migrations begin
and the field becomes alive with activity, you will be
the first to know. Please ensure that President Obama
knows that protecting wild buffalo is important to you
by editing and sending
this letter. 1,306 of you have already contacted him,
and we thank you! Please share the letter with your friends
and colleagues and encourage them to send one, too.
No buffalo have yet migrated out of Yellowstone. We ache
for their presence, but are thankful that they have remained
out of harm's way. After last year's catastrophic events,
this respite is sorely needed. But the absence of buffalo
in Montana hasn't stopped the Department of Livestock
(DOL) from wasting federal tax dollars: agents have been
plowing the Duck Creek bison trap, and paperwork is moving
through Gallatin National Forest's office to allow the
DOL to set up a second trap on Horse Butte.
Montana's legislature has been busy with bills affecting
wildlife: State bill HB 253, that would have removed the
DOL's authority over wild bison management and would have
respected wild buffalo as valued, native wildlife was
unfortunately killed in House Committee. The good news
is that, even though the legislation failed, this bill
demonstrated the growing public support for wild bison
in Montana. Many thanks go to Gallatin Wildlife Association
for crafting this bill and for their tireless efforts
to help restore wild bison to Montana. There is a cattle-industry
driven bill, SB 337, moving quickly through the legislature.
This legislation aims to prevent the relocation of disease-free
bison to public and tribal lands in Montana and elsewhere.
The cattle industry has made it clear that it doesn't
want any bison on the landscape, whether they've been
exposed to brucellosis or not. Although there was tremendous
public opposition to the bill in the House, it passed
and cattle interests will likely get their way in the
Senate, too. The disease-free bison in question are those
captured Yellowstone orphans who have suffered confinement
and human-handling in a state-federal quarantine feasibility
study, an operation we strongly oppose. What this bill
demonstrates, though, is that, as BFC has said all along,
the war against buffalo is not about disease, but grass.
The cattle industry also crafted legislation that would
force Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) to take
a more heavy-handed approach with elk to appease cattle
interests. In the Madison Valley more than 300 elk have
been killed in a "special hunt" to scare the
great herds off of their winter range where cattle ranches
have invaded. The cattle industry originally set up the
government of Montana, and for now they still maintain
control.
It's not just Montana that's waging war on wildlife for
cattle interests: Enhancing the state's drive to reduce
wolf populations to near nothing, the Wyoming legislature
recently introduced a bill that would allow for brucellosis
testing of wolves! Read
the article and please consider writing a letter to
the editor.
Brucellosis is a smokescreen being used by the cattle
industry to harass and kill wildlife for the invasive
cow. It is encouraging that the truth is finally starting
to come out. Relentless in their acts of selfishness and
greed for grass, the cattle industry will create their
own demise, and buffalo, wolves and elk will once again
take up their rightful places on the landscape.
Roam Free!
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* Thank You for the Valentines!
Heartfelt thanks and lots of BuffaLove to everyone who
purchased a Buffalo Valentine this year! Many special
thanks also go to the card's creator, Kathleen Stachowski.
Kathleen personally designs the cards and makes each one
by hand. It takes a lot of time and creativity for her
to do this, and her beautiful cards are certainly a work
of art. Her love for the buffalo comes through in these
special creations, which she's been crafting for the past
several years for BFC supporters to send on Valentines
and Mother's Days.
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* Tatanka 2009 ~ Let's Rock for the Buffalo!
BFC's co-founder Mike Mease is back on the road for a
mini-road show. He's first giving a presentation at the
Environmental Law Conference in Oregon, where he will
be joined by the amazing Native musician, Good Shield.
On the way back to camp, Mike and Good Shield will make
a couple of stops in Idaho.
Join them in Garden City, ID on Wednesday, March 4th for
Tatanka 2009! Visual Arts Collective will host this benefit
for Buffalo Field Campaign from 7:00-11:00pm. Mike will
give a presentation, and there will be music by The Netson
Family, featuring Brett Netson of Built to Spill and Caustic
Resin. Also rockin' for the buffalo are The Magnetics,
La Knotts, and URB. A small donation of $5-$10 is all
it takes to get you in the door! Proceeds go directly
towards the front lines work of Buffalo Field Campaign.
For more information drop a line to myspace@visualartscollective.com.
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* Last Words
"They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose."
~English folk poem, ca. 1764
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* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the last wild population
in the U.S.
2008-2009 Total: 2
2008-2009 Slaughter: 0
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 1
2007-2008 Total: 1,616
Total Since 2000: 3,683*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the
U.S.
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