Thursday, February 21, 2008
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
* 406-444-3111

Dear Buffalo Friends,

Yellowstone National Park sent 55 more wild American buffalo to slaughter this morning and captured another 15. Since February 8, bowing to pressure from Montana’s livestock industry, the Park Service has captured 290 wild American buffalo and sent 230 to slaughter so far.

Thanks for all of your calls to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Too bad his office - like all the other agencies - tried to avoid us and pass the buck. It’s up to us to keep the pressure on and hold them accountable for their actions.

Today is our fifth and final day of National Call-ins for the Week of Action. Thursday’s target is Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. When he campaigned for governor, he promised “more tolerance” for wild buffalo, yet so far his version of “tolerance” has included a so-called hunt and continued hazing, capture, slaughter, and quarantine.

HELP STOP THE SLAUGHTER NOW! Don’t let Montana or its cattle interests dictate the future of native wild buffalo. The last wild buffalo are our national treasures, a keystone species important to all of North America.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer - 406-444-3111
The goal is to make the phones ring off the hook! For those out of the country, you can send an email to brianschweitzer@mt.gov

* TALKING POINTS FOR CALLING Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer

1. The cattle industry did not put you in office and America’s last wild bison are not Montana’s to destroy; they are a national treasure.
2. Montana holds the key to restoring wild bison and must open all public lands to them year-round.
3. Yellowstone’s Gateway communities bring in millions from wildlife-related activities: $250+ million to park towns; $86 million in wildlife viewing; $28 million in hunting
4. Cattle-based risk management is the key to protecting Montana’s brucellosis-free status and the health and viability of our native wildlife. Fences and vaccinations are for cattle, not wild bison.
5. Pull out of the Interagency Bison Management Plan, turn bison management authority over to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and divest the Montana Department of Livestock of all wild bison-related activities.
6. Tell Governor Schweitzer to support efforts to make Horse Butte a buffalo reserve; Horse Butte is now 100% cattle-free year round, so there’s no excuse to harm buffalo there!

DON’T STOP CALLING YELLOWSTONE! THE PARK CONTINUES TO CAPTURE AND KILL BUFFALO, so please keep calling Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis. 307-344-2002. Regardless of what her office tells you, the Park Service is not beholden to the plan that is killing buffalo. It is not set in stone and the Park can refuse to participate and do the right thing: defend wild buffalo. They have a choice, and right now they are choosing to ignore their mandate, as well as the will of the American people, and instead insist on killing the wild buffalo the nation has entrusted them with. If the people who answer the phones tell you they are just doing their jobs, please remind them that they have a choice and that their jobs do not oblige them to support illegal and immoral actions.
Suzanne Lewis: 307-344-2002

THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION FOR THE BUFFALO!
For more information about the Week of Action, including the schedule for national call-in days and information about writing letters to the editor of your local, regional and national media, please visit http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/actnow/weekofaction08.html

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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo in the U.S.

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