*NEWS: Yellowstone NP Slaughters 37 Wild American Bison

[Guest guest]

I don't often send out requests like these. Anything you can do,

please help. Post this to all of your groups, newsletters, blogs,

forums ANYWHERE and urge people to take immediate action.

Blessings,

Rachel

http://www.fragrantsoul.com

 

*****

Buffalo Friends,

 

 

The slaughter has begun. Our Week of Action begins on the 14th, but

please do not hesitate to contact Yellowstone National Park now. You

can call Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis at 307-344-2022 and

tell her to stop the slaughter and protect, our national heritage, the

last wild population of American bison. Our press release is below.

Thank you for being with us in solidarity for the wild buffalo.

 

 

Roam Free!

 

 

 

 

BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN (BFC)

P.O. BOX 957

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT 59758

406-646-0070

bfc-media

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

 

 

* PRESS RELEASE*

 

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK SLAUGHTERS 37 OF AMERICA'S LAST WILD BUFFALO

Park Captured 41 More Sunday; 17 Calves to be Sent to Quarantine

Research Facility

 

For Immediate Release, February 11, 2008

Contact: Buffalo Field Campaign, Stephany Seay 406-646-0070

 

GARDINER, MONTANA - Yellowstone National Park officials sent 37 wild

American bison to slaughter this morning, without testing them for

exposure to brucellosis, the supposed reason for these actions.

 

On Sunday, the Park captured 41 bison; on Friday the Park captured

53, bringing the total capture since Friday to 94 wild American bison.

 

17 bison calves that tested negative for brucellosis exposure are

being held in the Stephens Creek bison trap, and will be sent to the

Corwin Springs quarantine feasibility research facility, where they

will be raised in pens like livestock.

 

" The actions of Yellowstone National Park demonstrate that they are

unqualified to protect the bison the nation is entrusting them with, "

said Stephany Seay, Media Coordinator for Buffalo Field Campaign.

 

These bison are members of the last wild, genetically intact

population living in the United States, and number fewer than 4,600.

Most of those captured, if not all, will be sent to slaughter without

being tested for brucellosis antibodies.

 

" The National Park Service is caving in to the unreasonable demands

of Montana's livestock industry at the expense of an American icon, "

said Seay, " These bison are our national heritage, a keystone species

critical to the ecological health of native grasslands. "

 

The bison were captured for following their natural migratory

instincts and walking onto or near habitat that is privately owned by

the Church Universal & Triumphant (CUT). CUT land hosts fewer than

250 head of cattle. Wild bison are also refused access to publicly

owned Gallatin National Forest lands adjacent to Yellowstone National

Park and CUT property. In the winter months, grasslands in the Park

are obscured by deep snow and bison and other wild ungulates venture

to lower-elevation habitat where they find critical forage necessary

for survival.

 

Cattle interests claim bison capture and slaughter is necessary to

prevent the spread of brucellosis from wild bison to cattle.

Brucellosis is a livestock disease introduced to native wildlife in

the early 20th century. However, there has never been a documented

case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle.

 

Federal and State actions serving Montana's cattle interests are

responsible for the deaths of hundreds of wild bison this year and the

death toll is likely to rise significantly. Tribal treaty hunts are

also underway. Bison killed or otherwise removed from the last wild

population during the winter of 2007-2008:

Montana and Treaty Bison Hunts: 112

NPS Captured (to be slaughtered/quarantined): 94

NPS Sent to Slaughter (Yellowstone North Boundary): 37

Highway mortalities (West Yellowstone): 5

 

" When will the Park Service understand that they are in charge of

protecting our wildlife, not protecting cattle interests? " asked Mike

Mease, co-founder of Buffalo Field Campaign.

 

This season's harsh winter is also starting to take a toll on wild

bison, who are finding it more difficult and sometimes impossible to

crater through the snow to get to critical forage for survival. Snow

banks from highway snowplowing around the West Yellowstone area are

making the bison's migration extremely difficult. Bison are getting

trapped along highway 191 and motor-collision mortalities are

resulting.

 

2,158 wild American bison have been killed or otherwise removed from

the remaining wild population since 2000 under actions carried out by

the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP), as well as state and

treaty hunts. The IBMP is a joint state-federal plan that prohibits

wild bison from migrating to lands outside of Yellowstone's

boundaries. Wild American bison are a migratory species native to vast

expanses of North America and are ecologically extinct everywhere in

the United States outside of Yellowstone National Park.

 

Buffalo Field Campaign strongly opposes the Interagency Bison

Management Plan and maintains that wild bison should be allowed to

naturally and fully recover themselves throughout their historic

native range, especially on public lands.

 

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, every

day, to stop the slaughter of the wild American buffalo. Volunteers

defend the buffalo and their native habitat and advocate for their

lasting protection. Buffalo Field Campaign has proposed real

alternatives to the current mismanagement of American bison that can

be viewed at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/solutions.html.

For more information, video clips and photos visit:

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.