Tuesday, February 19, 2008
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY to Montana State Vet, Marty Zaluski
* 406-444-0782

Dear Buffalo Friends,

More than 100 wild buffalo were captured Monday by Yellowstone officials, who continue to spill the blood of America’s last wild buffalo. This brings the total capture to 269, and all will be shipped to slaughter. On Friday Yellowstone sent another 17 buffalo to slaughter.

Today, on our third day of National Call-ins during the Week of Action, we target Montana’s State Vet, Marty Zaluski. While Yellowstone National Park is doing the killing now, it is Zaluski who is influencing these decisions and ultimately makes the call against wild buffalo that migrate into Montana. Soon their sights will turn to the Park’s western boundary, where they are preparing the Duck Creek bison trap and plan to erect the Horse Butte trap. Montana’s zero-tolerance policy against the bison must end. Talking points are provided below.

HELP STOP THE SLAUGHTER NOW! Don’t let Montana’s cattle industry 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 State Vet, Marty Zaluski - 406-444-0782
The goal is to make the phones ring off the hook, but for those out of the country, you can send an email to mzaluski@montana.gov.

* TALKING POINTS FOR CALLING Montana State Vet, Marty Zaluski

1. There has never been a documented case of wild bison transmitting the livestock disease brucellosis to cattle
2. The risk of such a transmission is extremely remote. There are no cattle on public or private lands adjacent to the west boundary of Yellowstone National Park at the times of year when bison are outside the park and the bacteria can’t persist in the environment for more than a few days in the spring. Thus, there is absolutely no reason for Montana’s violent intolerance for wild bison.

3. If the Church Universal and Triumphant insists on keeping cattle within the bison migration corridor on the north side of the Park, they should be required to employ double fencing to ensure that their cattle don’t come in contact with wild bison.

4. Horse Butte is 100% cattle-free at all times of the year, and the buffalo should be allowed year-round access to this critical habitat.

5. These are the NATION’S last wild bison, not Montana’s to slaughter at will.
6. Cattle are the manageable element and any effort to reduce the already low risk of brucellosis transmission should be focused upon them.

YELLOWSTONE CONTINUES TO CAPTURE AND KILL BUFFALO, so please don’t stop calling Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis. Regardless of what they tell you, her agency is not beholden to the plan that is killing buffalo. They can refuse to participate and instead 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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BOYCOTT BEEF! It’s what’s killing wild buffalo
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