And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: JDK Chipps via FN list
Lab Results Show Buffalo Killed by Montana Did Not Have
Disease
Where is Department of Livestock News Release
Now?
For Immediate Release: March 2, 1999 Contact: Mike Clark;
Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC)
406-586-1593 Jon Catton (GYC)
406-586-1593
The most rigorous tissue analysis in America has
revealed that 13 of the first 15 Yellowstone buffalo
slaughtered this winter by the Montana Department
of Livestock did not have the disease brucellosis.
These 13 buffalo therefore posed no risk to cattle.
They were killed needlessly. The lab results come
from Ames, Iowa, where the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service confirms that a battery of tissue
tests determined that 13 Yellowstone buffalo were
"culture negative."
The tests showed that only 2 out of 15 buffalo--all of
them slaughtered in January and February after
wandering outside Yellowstone National Park's
western boundary--were actually infected with the
disease. Both infected animals were bulls which,
because they cannot have abortions, pose no
significant risk of introducing the disease into their
environment.
"This is tragic news," said Mike Clark, Executive Director
of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
"Montana continues to needlessly slaughter one of our great
symbols of the West. These studies
conducted on the dead animals reveal that the state is
killing off buffalo that are perfectly healthy;
they posed no risk, yet now they are gone from America's
first national park forever." Faced with
rising public concern, the Montana Department of Livestock
is now using a public relations firm to
coordinate its news releases and to mislead the public about
the risk of disease.
Since November 20, the agency has issued 18 news releases?an
average of one news release every
five days--containing misinformation. For example, the
agency has reported finding high
percentages of captured buffalo testing "positive" for
brucellosis, implying actual infection and
threat of transmission. This implication has been misleading
each time the Department of
Livestock has repeated it. The agency's blood tests,
administered in the field, reveal whether a
buffalo is "positive" or "negative" for exposure to
brucellosis, not for the disease itself. Only culture
tests determine whether an animal was actually infected.
By failing to be clear about this critical distinction, the
Montana Department of Livestock has
deluded the public for three months, elevating the public's
perception of a disease problem far
beyond the facts and justifying its continuing slaughter of
Yellowstone buffalo. "Now we know the
truth," added Clark. "But the truth apparently does not
matter to the Montana Department of
Livestock. Where is the agency's news release now, reporting
that it killed 13 buffalo that did not
have brucellosis?"
Let the Montana DOL know what you think....
write Montana State vet responsible for these death, Arnold
Gertonson at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Buffalo Rescue Home Page-
http://www.eden.com/~jdkc/rescue.html
Buffalo Rescue Archives-
http://www.eGroups.com/list/buffalo-rescue/
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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