> Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 12:39:41 -0600
> To: "Stop the Slaughter"
> <Stop-the-Slaughter@...>
> From: Buffalo Folks
> <stop-the-slaughter@...>
> Subject: Buffalo News (goodbye to 29 friends)
>
> In this Issue:
> * News From the Field (from the only group with the
> buffalo 365 days a year)
> * Do ya' like these updates?
> * Press Release 5/22/02: Montana Indiscriminately
> Slaughters 29 More
> Yellowstone Bison
> * What can you do?
>
> __________________________________
>
> From the Field: May 23, 2002
> (Hi temp: 38 degrees, Low: 32 - still early spring
> here)
>
> Definitions:
> Cracker Rounds: shotgun rounds with M80 explosives
> that project 100
> yards before blowing up
>
> Hazing: the act of running buffalo using All Terrain
> Vehicles (ATVs),
> helicopters, snow mobiles, sirens, cracker rounds,
> autos and horses -
> often resembling a scene from a war movie. Animals
> in the ecosystem
> are disrupted, buffalo are put under undue stress
> during the crucial
> spring season and sometimes they are ran thru
> bobwire fences.
>
> Misconduct of public agencies: Read on to see your
> tax dollars at
> work. (over a million bucks this year and growing)
>
> Dear Friends:
>
> With the onset of a beautiful spring, you'd think
> the Montana
> Department of Livestock (DOL) would relax some. On
> the contrary -
> they have been hazing for the last 17 days straight.
> They've pushed
> the same buffalo twice a day in some cases. ATV's
> run wild buffalo
> up to the invisible borders of Yellowstone National
> Park (YNP) and
> then shoot dozens of cracker rounds (see above) into
> Yellowstone
> after them. DOL agents continue further into the
> Park through an
> area closed to every one else for grizzly bear
> protection. We have
> witnessed them chasing buffalo for up to 5 miles and
> shooting cracker
> rounds the whole way. The helicopter also harasses
> buffalo far
> inside the Park and has been documented flying only
> 10 feet off the
> ground and as far into the park as eight miles.
> Fortunately, this
> year no cracker rounds have been shot from the
> helicopter, yet.
>
> On May 20 the hazing took a temporary halt when 29
> bull buffalo (who
> were only 300 yards outside of Yellowstone) were
> captured in the Duck
> Creek capture facility. They were nabbed around
> 7:30 PM Monday and
> kept in the facility over night. Buffalo Field
> Campaign volunteers
> watched over them through the night. Loud banging
> echoed from the
> death trap and bulls injured each other trying to
> escape.
>
> On Tuesday, the "cooperating" agencies, Yellowstone
> Park Rangers and
> Fish, Wildlife and Park arrived with horses. They
> resumed hazing and
> ran 2 separate bull buffalo into the park. Both
> bulls were very
> close to the Duck Creek capture facility and could
> have easily been
> captured. They proceeded to Horse Butte Peninsula
> (Forest Service
> lands) and hazed 2 more bull buffalo back to the
> Park, a distance of
> about 6 miles. Meanwhile, the 29 bull buffalo paced
> in the capture
> facility. The hazing efforts ended, the other
> agencies left and the
> captive wild buffalo could still be heard injuring
> themselves. Night
> fell and volunteers again stood with their friends
> all night.
>
> Around 5 AM Wednesday, trailers loaded the 29
> buffalo for their
> destination - slaughter house. No testing again
> this week. The
> total killed so far this year stands at 200, 133 of
> those never
> tested. At least one of the buffalo killed
> yesterday had already
> tested negative earlier this winter. This story of
> the absurd shows
> the inconsistencies of current buffalo "management"
> being implemented
> by folks with no wildlife biology credentials.
> Inhumane treatment of
> majestic wild animals, using disease arguments only
> when it suits
> you, vacillating haphazardly between capture and
> slaughter,
> arbitrarily setting population "targets", not
> allowing the public
> access to public documents, decimating a large
> number of males in a
> delicately balanced genetic herd and absolutely no
> concept of the
> ancestral migration behaviors that are the very
> essence of these
> buffalo.
>
> Department Of Livestock agents are here again and
> more buffalo have
> wondered back out of the park. Who knows what
> miseries will befall
> the buffalo today, but the Buffalo Field Campaign is
> out there with
> them, standing tall, and letting them know that some
> of the two
> legged people do care.
>
> Our numbers are low right now so if you would like
> to help out here
> on the front lines - now is the time!! Please keep
> the buffalo in
> your hearts and prayers and continue to spread the
> word of this
> travesty.
> Thank you all for making Buffalo Field Campaign be a
> reality.
>
> With the Buffalo,
> Mike Mease
> Buffalo Field Campaign
> (formerly Buffalo Nations)
> PO Box 957
> West Yellowstone, MT 59758
> 406-646-0070 phone
> 406-646-0071 fax
> buffalo@...
>
> ____________
>
> Greetings!
>
> The season is still in full swing and folks are in
> the field every
> day from sun up to sun down. Besides trying to keep
> ends meeting and
> the campaign running - we are pulling together our
> educational
> newsletter. Things are tight - but we stretch a
> buck a long ways!
>
> If you enjoy receiving this email newsletter and
> haven't made a
> donation lately - please consider doing so! Pick an
> amount - perhaps
> the amount for your local newspaper for a month or a
> magazine
> subscription - and send it our way so we can
> continue to send you
> these updates and continue to work towards true
> protection of the
> last wild buffalo.
>
> Donations can be mailed to: BFC- programs; POB 957;
> West Yellowstone,
> Montana 59758. Tell us if you need a receipt.
>
> Thanks
> for the buffalo,
> Su
>
> If you're short on cash but would like to help -
> contact us about the
> Bucks for Buffalo Spare Change Jars or the Cartridge
> Recycling
> Program at bfc-programs@...
>
> _________
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 22, 2002
> Contacts: Dan Brister (406) 726-5555; Mike Mease
> (406) 646-0070
>
> Montana Indiscriminately Slaughters 29 More
> Yellowstone Bison
>
> West Yellowstone, MT: The Montana Department of
> Livestock (DOL)
> slaughtered 29 bison today without even testing them
> for brucellosis.
> The animals were captured Monday in the Duck Creek
> capture facility
> and confined for 36 hours before being shipped to
> slaughter. It is
> uncertain why the animals were held so long inside
> the capture
> facility.
>
> Since the last week of April the DOL has slaughtered
> 133 bison, more
> than the combined kills of the previous four years.
> Montana hasn't
> slaughtered as many bison since 1996-'97, when the
> state killed
> nearly 1,100 buffalo that migrated out of
> Yellowstone National Park.
>
> "The current slaughter has nothing to do with
> brucellosis," said Dan
> Brister of the Buffalo Field Campaign. "The
> livestock industry has
> zero tolerance for free-roaming buffalo and they are
> doing all they
> can to destroy the Yellowstone herd."
>
> Today's killing brings the year's death toll to 200
> buffalo. Only 67
> of those (33 percent) were even tested for
> brucellosis antibodies.
> 133 Yellowstone buffalo were slaughtered this winter
> without being
> tested.
>
> Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers spent the past two
> nights between
> the Duck Creek trap and the Yellowstone boundary,
> working to prevent
> the capture of even more bison. "We heard loud
> crashes throughout
> the night as the frightened bison banged their heads
> against the
> trap's steel walls," said BFC volunteer Christopher
> May. Buffalo
> often suffer fatal injuries inside the traps, and
> BFC has documented
> the deaths of many buffalo after their release.
>
> "Today's slaughter is a disgrace to Montana," said
> Robert Sanchez,
> one of the activists who witnessed Monday's capture.
> "They captured
> marked buffalo--animals that were captured earlier
> in the winter,
> tested negative for brucellosis exposure, and were
> released."
>
> Video Footage available on request.
> -30-
> _____________________
>
> Speak Out!
>
> In addition to the long term environmental and
> ecological affects of
> these "buffalo management" operations - what are the
> economical costs
> to taxpayers? What has 17 days of multi agency
> hazing cost
> taxpayers? What will the EIS process for the 4
> grazing allotments
> cost the Forest Service? What costs have been
> racked up by the
> helicopter hazing this year? How much overtime is
> being paid to
> rehaze the same animals over and over? How many
> hundreds of
> thousands of federal dollars has the GYIBC already
> expended this year?
>
> It's your money, folks! If you want to inquire
> about these and other
> concerns - take a moment and contact:
> It is time to quit the waste of tax payers dollars.
> Dale Bosworth; Chief, United States Forest Service
> phone - 202 205 1661
> 4NW Yates Federal Building 201 14th Street SW at
> Independence Ave SW
> Washington, D.C. 20250
> mailto:dbosworth@...
>
> He can keep cattle out of these pristine areas with
> one signature.
>
>
>
>
___________________________________________________________
>
> Info regarding the buffalo and how you can help at
> http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo
>
> Send an email showing your concern for the buffalo
> to public
> officials at
>
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/politico00/sendmail.html
>
> "Stop-the-slaughter" buffalo updates are mailed
> about 3-4
> times/month. If this is forwarded to you and you
> would like to
> receive it regularly - go to
>
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/politk99/stssign.html
>
> Contributions to BFC are tax-deductible to the
> extent allowed by law
> and support our aggressive, front line, grassroots
> volunteer work.
> We put the wild buffalo first! BFC is the only
> group working 365
> days a year in Yellowstone protecting the last
> free-roaming buffalo.
>
___________________________________________________________
>


=====
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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