It's an important time for buffalo supporters to take action
5 Buffalo Nations volunteers arrested, new legal defense fund opens
Horse Butte bison capture trap to open and start sending buffalo to
death any day now!
DOL refuses to accept more lenient federal standards for bison in MT
West Yellowstone mayor speaks out against the slaughter
Send your rock to Governor Racicot!
National petition drive to start next week...write
[EMAIL PROTECTED] if you can
help...thanks!
Dear Buffalo Supporters,
Five of our volunteers have been arrested in
recent weeks for interfering with Montana
Department of Livestock (DOL) buffalo
slaughter operations. Sue Nackoney locked
herself at the top of a 30 foot tripod on Duck
Creek Road and sat there for 6 hours to
prevent the shipment of buffalo to the
slaughterhouse. When a local cherry picker
truck was called by the sheriff, the driver
refused to help and said that he supported
the action.
A truck had to be dispatched from Idaho. Ground supporter Molly Karp was
also arrested for
trespassing, even after being told she could stand near the tripod. Legal
support is being organized
by Attorney Chuck Watson, one of the region's top criminal defense
lawyers.
Watson has promised to find pro-bono lawyers for all of our civil
disobedience actions, and will
represent Nackoney. He represented Karp at her pre-trial, and all of her
charges were dismissed. So
far, local supporters have generously posted bail, and now we have opened
a new Buffalo Defense
Fund for future arrests, and direct action supplies.
If you can send us a non-tax deductible donation, make checks out to ATTN:
Buffalo Defense Fund
and send them to us here at Buffalo Nations.
For more info see Story: Lawyer arranging free legal defense for
Buffalo Nations
The DOL has already killed 13 buffalo this winter. With a new bison trap
scheduled to be constructed
this week at Horse Butte on prime winter range, the DOL plans to capture
many more buffalo. The
road to the capture facility site has been plowed, and the DOL stated in a
recent news article that they
expect to be operating the trap by the end of this week!
Our patrols are monitoring the site for bald eagles (the facility is
planned to be on bald eagle critical
nesting habitat), watching the buffalo in the area, and we will continue
to take action so that the DOL
knows they can not keep killing buffalo without having to deal with all of
us!
More info on Horse Butte
Montana Governor Racicot has the power to stop the slaughter, yet he
continues to condone it.
Many told us that his email address bounced back- that's because he closed
down his account! For
someone who has been saying that he's willing to listen to the people (as
part of his recent political
aspirations), he sure doesn't seem willing to hear public
comment.columnist Marc Racicot ...move
into the modern age and accept email (at least thru your citizen's
advocate)
As Todd Wilkinson, a local syndicated columnist suggested in a Bozeman
chronicle article... quote
"If you, too, believe that Montana Gov. Racicot's bison policy is
based on stone age logic, send him a rock."
Seems like that is a great suggestion as both his political policies and
his communication skills are
stone age.
* Mr. Racicot: Your bison policies are based on Stone age logic!
Don't believe for a
moment that the american public will forget this slaughter of the
last wild buffalo when you
run for presidential (or other national) offices. Please open your
mind and ears and listen
to what people truly want. Please move into this century and stop
this ridiculous killing of
our national buffalo*
P.S. Every other governor and national official in the United States is
savvy enough to figure out how
to have their office accept electronic mail, Racicot should consider
moving into the modern world.
After all- According to Stats' projections on Internet usage in 1998 there
were: 33 Million Users in the
US and 67 Million Users Worldwide In 1999, they are projecting: 39 Million
Users in the US and 92
Million Users Worldwide.
Montana Governor Marc Racicot
Capitol Building
Helena, Montana 59620
Phone: (406)444-3111
Fax: (406)444-4151 maybe a collection of rocks will start a landslide
Carol Yager, a buffalo supporter in Ohio, has offered to send the
governor a rock for everyone who sends
her $3 in postage, a piece of paper with your name and address which
she will use to wrap the rock, and a
SASE if you want a receipt for the postage. Write her at 9954 Bannon
Court, Miamisburg, OH 45342..
News on the political front....
As if to prove the extent of their irrationality, on January 22, the DOL
stated that they will not accept
the federal Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) definition of
"low risk" bison (males,
yearlings, calves and non-pregnant females) which could be tolerated in
the state without testing.
See the article below for more details...
At least some people are seeing how awful it looks for Montana to become a
buffalo death trap. The
West Yellowstone/Hebgen Basin Solid Waste Board voted unanimously to
refuse to allow the DOL to
butcher bison carcasses that are shot in the field at the West Yellowstone
dump. West Yellowstone
Mayor Doug Edgerton stated, "We do not need publicity saying the town of
West Yellowstone
supports the slaughter of bison. The potential for national TV exposure
with this mess isn't a good
idea anyway."
See current Press stories for more info
Tonite finds dedicated activists perched in tripods protecting Horse
Butte...read more at 1/25 press release
Please help support our front lines campaign--we have volunteers coming
from as far as England
and Australia, and many who have never experienced such cold temperatures.
We are in desperate
need of warm gear--baliclava hats, super-warm mittens, wool socks, warm
winter boots, and wool
pants. We also need reliable snowmobiles, as this is the only way that we
can follow the DOL
everywhere they go.
And volunteers are always needed--if you want to protect the buffalo,
there is a bunk and warm place
by our wood stove here for you! Always feel free to call the Department of
Livestock to tell them that
they aren't fooling anyone with their hazing activities.
Demand that they allow the buffalo to roam freely outside of Yellowstone.
Call toll-free in Montana
1-800-523-3162 or (406) 449- 2095 and speak toTom Daubert, media wrangler
for the DOL.
