Bison in Montana are facing a crisis situation: the Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) has decided to kill all bison captured outside of Yellowstone Park's protective boundaries, ostensibly to protect a handful of domestic cattle from possible infection with brucellosis.
Previously, the MDOL had tested all captured bison, slaughtered those who tested positive for brucellosis, and released the rest. Even this system was far from perfect because a positive test result only indicates that an animal has been exposed to the disease, not whether the animal is currently infected. MDOL's recent decision to slaughter all captured bison without even testing them is scientifically unjustified and is costing millions of taxpayer dollars. To make matters worse, hundreds more bison may soon be killed when MDOL and cooperating agencies shift from
capture and slaughter of bison to simply shooting those who remain
outside of the Park on May 1.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Your urgent (polite) calls and faxes are needed to stop this killing!
Please contact Montana Governor Judy Martz and Montana's state
Veterinarian, Dr. Arnold Gertonson, and ask that they immediately stop the capture, slaughter, or shooting of all bison or, at a minimum, that they reinstitute testing of all bison captured on April 30 and initiate hazing of those who remain outside of the Park as of May 1.
