TAKE ACTION to SAVE BUFFALO

I just wanted to post the links to where you can submit letters to Ken Salazar and Montana government agencies.

• Defenders of Wildlife pre-written letter

          https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1991

• Natural Resource Defense Council pre-written letter

          https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2129& s_src=fb

• If you're feeling creative and/or want to tell Montana's government what to do and where to go, here is the link to email legislators and the committees.

          http://leg.mt.gov/css/sessions/62nd/legwebmessage.asp

Young bulls at West Entrance

Temporary Halt to Slaughter

Bison slaughter on hold as park reviews lawsuit

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Matthew Brown, Associated Press – 

BILLINGS, Mont. –

Officials halted plans Friday to ship bison to slaughter from Yellowstone National Park after saying they first had to review a court challenge filed by wildlife advocates. Almost 400 of the animals were being held in corrals inside the park for testing to see if they have been exposed to the disease brucellosis.

Colin Campbell STOP the SLAUGHTER!

Here's a letter my mother wrote to the acting superintendent of Yellowstone National Park.

Stop wasting taxpayers hard earned money abusing and killing members of the Yellowstone Bison Herd.  The brucellosis excuse is a LIE to U.S. taxpayers.  You already know that there has not been even one documented case of genetically pure, wild bison giving this disease back to the cattle who brought it here to begin with.  Cattle imported from Europe by our European immigrant ancestors.

You are perpetuating the Dept. of Interior's racist war from the 1800's, when the complaint was that Indians and Buffalo are taking grassland away from cattle.  Stop carrying on in the dysfunctions of your predecessors.

Let the Buffalo Roam!

                    Take Action!

Please take a moment right now and urge Yellowstone's Acting Superintendent Colin Campbell and your US Senators and Representative to stop the slaughter of the Yellowstone bison, America's only continuously wild population. 

Colin Campbell, Yellowstone National Park
PHONE: 307-344-2003
EMAIL: colin_campbell@nps.gov

Upcoming Buffalo Hearings

Dear Friends of the Buffalo,

Please attend and testify at these hearings in support of keeping the legal status and treatment of wild buffalo as wildlife (SB 207 and SB 212), for restoring wild free ranging buffalo in Montana (HB 318, SB 212 and SB 207), and keeping livestock inspectors from trespassing on private property where wild buffalo are valued and welcomed in our neighborhoods and communities (SB 148).  All of these bills need to be opposed and defeated.

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED THIS WEEK ON BUFFALO BILLS IN HELENA, MONTANA CAPITOL BUILDING

SB 148 Hearing scheduled SENATE Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee Tuesday, January 25, Room 335, 3 PM

SB 207 Hearing scheduled SENATE Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee Thursday, January 27, Room 335, 3 PM

SB 212 Hearing scheduled SENATE Fish and Game Committee Thursday, January 27, Room 422, 3 PM

HB 318 Hearing scheduled HOUSE Agriculture Committee Thursday, January 27, Room 472, 3 PM

If you can't attend these hearings, please call and contact Montana legislators via this number: (406) 444-4800.

Please get involved and spread the word to save America's last wild buffalo herd!  Make contact with your Montana legislators through this link (click on the area where you reside): http://nris.mt.gov/gis/legislat/2011/

To submit written testimony, contact the secretary of the respective committee.  Address your testimony to the Chair and members of the committee, and ask that your testimony be entered into the hearing record.

House committee members (and secretaries) can be found and contacted through this link:  http://leg.mt.gov/css/House/house-committees-2011.asp

Senate committee members (and secretaries) can be found and contacted through this link: http://leg.mt.gov/css/Senate/senate%20committees-2011.asp

SB 148 online:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0148.htm

The primary sponsor Sen. Art Wittich is a Republican from Bozeman:  senatorwittich@montana.com. SB 148's exemptions for entry essentially guts the provision of notifying and obtaining approval from landowners PRIOR to Dept. of Livestock inspectors coming onto private property to force buffalo to flee said property.  Current law 81-2-120 does not permit livestock inspectors to trespass on private lands to harass and harm wild buffalo where they are welcomed and valued. There is no "public health and safety" threat where buffalo are permitted by landowners to be on their property. The logic of SB 148 begs the question:  will elk become a "public health and safety" threat too?

http://laws.leg.mt.gov/laws11/LAW0210W$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_NO1=148&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=SB&Z_ACTION=Find

SB 207 online: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0207.htm

The primary sponsor Sen. Frederick "Eric" Moore  is a Republican from Miles City: mail@senatorericmoore.com. SB 207 reclassifies ALL buffalo as livestock in Montana. The Dept. of Livestock is required to impose a permit and inspection system for buffalo coming into/out of any county, or into/out of state. "A person who purposely or knowingly transports wild or domestic buffalo or bison in violation of rules adopted pursuant to this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,000 or be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than 6 months, or both." Prohibits buffalo to "run at large" and makes owners of said buffalo liable with penalties for trespass onto private property. SB 207 classifies any wild buffalo, including those from Yellowstone as "estrayed," permitting the Dept. of Livestock to take them.

http://laws.leg.mt.gov/laws11/LAW0210w$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_DFT_NO5=LC1050&Z_ACTION=Find

SB 212 online:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/SB0212.htm

The primary sponsor Sen. Rick Ripley is a Republican from Wolf Creek. SB 212 requires Fish, Wildlife & Parks to adopt a plan BEFORE any wild buffalo can be released onto private or public lands in Montana. The plan MUST include: animal identification, tracking and containment measures (fencing and removal methods) in "designated areas" and makes Fish, Wildlife & Parks liable for any costs incurred for damages to private property. Fish, Wildlife & Parks "may not release or transplant wild buffalo or bison on state or federal land in Montana if the relocation or transplantation would negatively affect any existing multiple use of the land, including livestock grazing."

http://laws.leg.mt.gov/laws11/LAW0210w$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_DFT_NO5=LC1052&Z_ACTION=Find#spon_table

HB 318 online:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2011/billhtml/HB0318.htm

The primary sponsor Rep. Wendy Warburton is a Republican from Havre:  wendywarburton@gmail.com. HB 318 requires the approval of County Commissioners BEFORE the Dept. of Livestock or Fish, Wildlife & Parks may permit wild buffalo or buffalo certified brucellosis free to be relocated in Montana in the counties affected.

http://laws.leg.mt.gov/laws11/LAW0210w$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_DFT_NO5=LC1049&Z_ACTION=Find

Thank you for taking action to protect America's last wild buffalo and their descendants as a valued wildlife species freely roaming Montana.

For the Buffalo,

Daniel Brister, Executive Director

Buffalo Field Campaign

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field

and in the policy arena to protect America's last wild buffalo.

Letter to MDOL on SB 207

SB 207 Managing Bison as Livestock

My name is Julia Vincent.  I live in Helena, Montana.  My grandparents were Montana homesteaders.  My mother's family homesteaded in Daniels County.  My father's parents homesteaded along the north fork of the Flathead river.  My grandfather, Ray Vincent, was acting superintendent of Glacier National Park.  My father, John D. Vincent, was a foreman and a ranger in The Park.

In the 1800's, the Department of the Interior was complaining that Indians and Buffalo are taking grassland away from cattle.  This mentality remains in control to this day.  The attacks on genetically pure bison are fueled by fear, not by reality.  Taxpayers' money continues to be misused to fund an archaic, racist war.  Giving Yellowstone Bison to Ted Turner while refusing to give them to local indigenous nations was borne out of the livestock industry's fear that Indians are going to bring back the Buffalo. Now you are attempting to eradicate them by re-labeling the last remnant of genetically pure bison as livestock. Livestock are animals your ancestors brought to the western hemisphere when they emigrated to this foreign land. Genetically pure bison are indigenous wildlife, sacred to the First Nations.

And, as you already know, there is not even one documented case of bison giving brucellosis back to the cattle who brought it here to begin with.  More taxpayers' money being spent on a lie.

Tatanka is not livestock!  Let the genetically pure buffalo roam.