---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 00:58:00 -0700
From: Buffalo Folks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Stop the Slaughter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Buffalo NEWS
Greetings!
Thanks for all your letters and calls about the capture facility! Even
though we were only given a minimal (some say... illegally so) comment
period, they have already received 500 letters from concerned folks. Not
to be discouraging...but they didn't listen. They are going to go ahead
with the facility and start slaughtering buffalo.
Please see the update from the field from Buffalo Nations below
What can we do?
* Take your winter vacation and protect the buffalo! Call 406.646.0070 for
more details.
* Write a letter to the editor of your local paper (see sample letter below)
The electronic Activist has Contacts for newspapers and media around the
country: http://www.berkshire.net/~ifas/activist/index.html
* Know a lawyer who would like to do some pro bono work? Pass this on... we
need an emergency restraining order ASAP!
* Got any Hi band vhf hand held radios that need a home? They make great
stocking stuffers for buffalo activists in the field, i hear! :-)
Thank you!
final reminder:Long term comments are due in by December 1st; there is
sample letters and info at http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
___________________________________________________
UPDATE from the field
Horse Butte Capture Facility nears final approval- construction is
imminent! November 30, 1998- West Yellowstone
As of this afternoon, the Forest Service has neared completion of the
permitting process for the construction of a new buffalo capture facility
on Horse Butte. This facility will operate from now until Jan. 31 as part
of the Department of Livestock's "short term" plan for trapping bison who
migrate out of Yellowstone.
The facility will trap all bison who migrate out onto the Horse Butte area,
a favorite traditional wintering spot. Buffalo are commonly seen in the
winter on this gently sloping, grassy and warm south-facing hillside. Horse
Butte was an amazing sight last spring, when 300 buffalo were walking all
around there! After the buffalo are trapped, all buffalo who test positive
for brucellosis will be shipped to slaughter. The worst part is, all the
pregnant females will be killed regardless of whether they test positive or
negative. Over 50% of all trapped bison will test positive and be sent to
slaughter, even thought only infected pregnant females theoretically can
transmit the disease.
Both the Forest Service and the DOL claim that they will actually save the
lives of more buffalo by operating the facility! This twist of dis-logic is
one that only buffalo management agencies could ever dream up. The only way
they can save the lives of more buffalo is to stop killing buffalo over the
brucellosis myth, and let the buffalo roam freely.
Thank you for your comments on the short-term plan- the Forest Service
reported that they received hundreds of comments! Let's keep them busy
reading letters instead of killing buffalo!
Here's where you come in...
We need volunteers, pronto! If you are excited by the idea of watching
buffalo, dogging the Forest Service and DOL, working around our cabin, or
otherwise helping to protect these beautiful buffalo, we need you now!
Please tell your friends and family who might want to help out also.
Montana has requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pay up
to $500,000 dollars per year for the operation of the bison trap. Do you
want a half million of your tax dollars used every year to provide Montana
the ability to capture our bison on our land?
Call or fax the following
USDA officials and tell them not to kill bison with your tax dollars.
USDA Secretary Daniel Glickman (Telephone: 202-720-3631; Fax: 202-720-2166)
USDA, APHIS Administrator Dr. Craig Reed (Telephone: 202-720-3668; Fax:
202-720-3054)
USDA, APHIS, VS Dpty. Admin. Dr. Tom Walton (Telephone 202-720-5193; Fax:
202-690-4171)
Remind them that:
* The USDA does not have legal authority over free-ranging wildlife and
cannot revoke Montana's brucellosis-free status simply because bison have
emigrated from the Park making it unnecessary to capture bison on public
lands;
* There are no cattle on the Gallatin National Forest near West Yellowstone
in the winter so the capture, testing, and slaughter of Yellowstone bison
is unnecessary;
* The USDA should not provide federal funding for a proposal which is
blatantly illegal;
* Under no circumstances should your tax dollars be used to pay for the
capture of Yellowstone bison on federal land.
Tomorrow, December 1, is the deadline for commenting on the long-term plan,
which will allow for operation of the facility from February 1 through the
spring. Demand a full Environmental Assessment for the operation of the
facility!
Buffalo Nations
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070 phone
406-646-0071 fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_____________________________________________________________
Sample letter to your local paper and why not send one to a national one also?
Write one from your heart...it always sounds better.
TO: Managing Editor
Local and NAtional Paper
FAX: ###-###-###
FROM:
DATE:
RE: Letter to the Editor
Dear Mr./ Ms. _____________,
Yellowstone's approach to managing the nation's largest free ranging bison
herd will have not only worldwide implications but large impacts on the
taxpayers of this nation. Our government has decided that these wild
creatures fates should be decided by ranchers not scientists.
A recent $50 million federal plan to manage the longest free-roaming herd
of Amercan Buffalo was bad news for the icon of the West. It involves
capturing, confining, killing, quarantining, and trucking to
slaughterhouses some of the last wild buffalo. To let them roam free on
public lands would not only save the buffalo but save the taxpayers money.
To make it worse, the U.S. Forest Service has now decided to give the
Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) special considerations and allow them
to construct an eyesore of a bison capture facility, slaughter them
(including all pregnant females), and force taxpayers to pay for this. All
for the interests of a few corporate ranchers who want to continue grazing
cattle with hefty subsidies on pubic lands. The facility will be right next
to federally protected bald eagle nesting grounds.
Helicopters buzzing over bald eagle nests, bullets whizzing past
snowmobilers, buffalo bellowing while being loaded onto trucks to be taken
to slaughter. I'm sure it will be great for local residents who live
nearby and, of course, for all the tourists who come to Montana, not for
peace and quiet and nature, but to watch wildlife being slaughtered. When
do you think Montana will figure it out?
If you think this is to crazy to be true, just check it out with the head
of the Forest Service, Mike Dombeck. You might mention to him that maybe
he could save money by cutting all technical posts in the Forest Service
since according to them, they aren't doing their own science, but depending
on the pseudo science of the Montana DOL.
This time they have gone too far. Apparently it wasn't enough to
senselessly kill one third of our nation's last wild buffalo and let the
Montana DOL keep all proceeds from the carcasses. This time they want a
Federal Agency to throw the National Environmental Protection Act out along
with the well being of another national symbol, the bald eagle. Montana
also has requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pay up to
$500,000 dollars per year for the operation of the bison trap. I for one
do not want a half million of my tax dollars used every year to provide
Montana the ability to capture our bison on our land! How about you?
________________________________________________________
Remember:
The people making these decisions have names and bosses...you, for one.
Write
Mike Dombeck, Chief, Forest Service,
Auditor's Bldg
201 14th Street, S.W. at Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20024
202-205-1661.
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
& Why not let his bosses know we will not take this illegal violation of
NEPA and that wild buffalo are important to us
Pres. Bill Clinton; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Vice Pres. Gore; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The White House mailing address is:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461
______________________________________________________
for the buffalo!
Our web pages are being updated ...
http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo
It is time to rally Buffalo allies before the killing begins again!
Please pass this update on to 7 friends.
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