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In this issue:
* Special Alert! Help Buffalo on the Hill - Reach Out to Congress
* Update from the Field
* BFC & Coffee Jones Present the Buffalo Blend
* Bonnie Raitt BFC Benefit Tickets ~ Only 7 Tickets Left!
* COMMENT: Montana Buffalo Hunt Planned for 2008-2009
* “Let Buffalo Roam” License Plates for Every State!
* Buffalo (and Elk!) in the News
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
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* Special Alert! Help Buffalo on the Hill - Reach Out to Congress

Yellowstone buffalo need your help in the halls of Congress. Do you live near or plan to visit the Washington D.C. area? We would like to distribute our new collaborative newsletter, Buffalo News, to members of the U.S. Congress returning from their Independence Day break this week. With 535 members to reach, can you help us distribute newsletters to Congressional offices throughout the country? If you’re not heading towards the nation’s capitol, any time is a good time to visit your House and Senate district offices. Most members of Congress have offices in close proximity to where you live, and they want to hear from constituents about their concerns. Let them know the buffalo are a big concern for you, and you want them to take positive action to help make room to roam for the United State’s last wild population of American bison. District office locations and contact information are available on your House and Senate member’s web sites. Visit the links below.

We will send you copies of Buffalo News for you to distribute on the Hill or to district offices. Please drop us an email to Help Buffalo on the Hill: buffalo@wildrockies.org

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Here are the stories that appeared in the media over the last week.
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Focus on elk as disease persists near Yellowstone
By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer

Federal officials are considering a tentative proposal that calls for capturing or killing infected elk in Yellowstone National Park to eliminate a serious livestock disease carried by animals in the area.

This is another example of how EXTREME the livestock industry has become in this country. They want to control all of the wildlife and not take any responsibility for how they manage their own livestock.

The incompetence of the State Vets is astounding. They have killed more that 6600 bison since 1985 of which nearly 3700 have been killed under the IBMP which was instituted in 2000. After all of this death and destruction, the millions of dollars, and the lies Montana has still lost its brucellosis free status.

In a guest opinion piece on the New West website Steve Roth of the Montana Stockgrowers Association had this to say:

Our primary concern is that if split-state status is implemented, there will be less incentive for Montanans to work together to attain the ultimate goal: complete eradication of brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA).

In other words they want to hold everyone hostage to their non-atainable political goal of eliminating brucellosis from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. If they were to allow a split-state status then the ranchers who live outside of the GYE wouldn’t put pressure on the government to try this crazy scheme. Now that the state of Montana has lost its brucellosis free status all of those ranchers will be affected because the MSGA wants to make a political point.

State Vets Plan to Eliminate Brucellosis in Yellowstone Bison
KULR-TV - Billings,MT,USA
By Alden Downing

This shows the true colors of the livestock industry and how they want to control how our wildlife is managed for their benefit. Buffalo in the Yellowstone are among the few genetically pure buffalo left in North America and they are the only buffalo which have a continuos connection to the land that they inhabit.

This plan has been tried in the past and it was an utter failure. This continuous genetic bottleneck will result in a decline of genetic diversity and will negatively effect the health the heard thus putting them at risk of extinction.

Brucellosis is endemic in many species of wildlife and is exacerbated by the elk feedgrounds in Wyoming.

Ralph Maughan has posted his feelings about this plan here:
http://wolves.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/state-vets-plan-to-elminate-brucellosis-in-yellowstone-bison/

Cattle group calls for elk, bison reductions in Yellowstone

Rather than facing the real issue with brucellosis, namely the elk feed grounds in Wyoming where artificially high concentrations increase the prevalence of brucellosis, the California-based U.S. Cattlemen’s’ Association wants you, the public, to accept more killing of Yellowstone wildlife for industry.

Sick Cow Costs Montana Its Brucellosis-Free Status
By Robert Struckman, 6-09-08
New West

Montana cow tests positive for brucellosis
By Matthew Brown
ASSOCIATED PRESS

According to Marty Zaluski, the Montana State Veterinarian, it was “very unlikely” bison from Yellowstone National Park were the source, since none had been documented near the ranch where the disease was found. That leaves another cattle herd, elk or other wildlife as possible vectors of the disease.

Earthjustice is representing Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Wyoming Outdoor Council and the National Wildlife Refuge Association in federal court in a fight against the National Elk Refuge to close the feedground there which is exacerbating the brucellosis problem and likely going to spread chronic wasting disease like wild fire if it reaches the refuge.

Read about it here:
Suit Opposes Elk Feeding in Wyoming
Jim Robbins
New York Times