| Billings,
MT: Buffalo Field Campaign and Patagonia, Inc,
are launching a billboard campaign today to focus attention
on Yellowstone National Park's role in the ongoing slaughter
of the Yellowstone bison, America's only continuously
wild herd. More than one in five members of the
herd, or over 1,000 buffalo, were killed by Montana
and federal agencies during the winter of 2005-2006.
Featuring the silhouette of a bison on the Yellowstone
landscape, the billboards read: "Yellowstone National
Park Kills Thousands of Buffalo. Ask them, Why?"
One billboard will face westbound traffic near the confluence
of Interstates 90 and 94 in Billings and one will be
located eight miles north of the Park's west entrance
near West Yellowstone, MT. The billboards will
run for at least six months starting today.
"Yellowstone killed more than 900 bison this year
alone," said Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign.
"We designed these billboards to hold Park officials
accountable for their actions and to remind them that
they answer to the American people, not the vested interests
of Montana's livestock industry," he said.
"The Bison are an integral part of the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem," said Patagonia CEO Casey
Sheahan. "Their protection is essential both
within and outside the Yellowstone Park boundary.
BFC is working on the ground to ensure the public is
aware of what is happening to American's last wild buffalo
herd. The two billboards near the entrances of
Yellowstone National Park raise the question of why
the buffalo are being captured, hazed and slaughtered."
The billboard campaign is part of BFC's Education and
Outreach Program, aimed at empowering citizen action
on behalf of the irreplaceable Yellowstone herd.
Other aspects of the program include a BFC information
table inside Yellowstone Park and BFC's annual road
shows, when BFC volunteers share video, photos, news,
and stories through a series of coast-to-coast presentations
in order to build lasting protection for the Yellowstone
bison.
Numbering fewer than 4,000, the Yellowstone bison comprise
America's only continuously wild herd. Bison are
a migratory species native to North America and once
spanned the continent, numbering between 30 and 50 million.
Fear that bison may transmit the livestock disease brucellosis
to cattle is the purported justification for the slaughter
of wild buffalo by state and federal agencies.
However, there has never been a documented case of wild
bison transmitting brucellosis to livestock and none
of the adult bison slaughtered by the Park Service this
year were first tested for brucellosis.
"The Yellowstone herd is a national treasure, a
living embodiment of America's wild and untamed spirit,"
said Stephany Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign. "Rather
than spending time and resources on their capture and
slaughter, the Park Service should be working to protect
the buffalo and their critical habitat."
Patagonia, with sales last year of $260M, is noted internationally
for its commitment to product quality and environmental
activism. Its Environmental Grants Program has
contributed over $25M to grassroots environmental activists
since the program began in 1985, and its Environmental
Internship Program allows employees to work for environmental
groups while receiving their full paycheck. Incorporating
environmental responsibility in to product development,
the company has, since 1996, used only organically-grown
cotton in its clothing line, and is noted world-wide
for using recycled soda bottles in many of its polyester
fleece garments. Known for a unique corporate
culture, the company has been recognized for many years
by Working Mother magazine as one of the "100 Best
Companies for Working Mothers," and is a regular
recipient of recognition by Fortune and Human Resources
Management magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies
to Work for in America. "
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