President Barack Obama

May 24, 2013 Subject: Dear President Obama, Finding great resonance in your message of change, I write with urgency to ask that your Administration take immediate, visionary action to stop the government slaughter of America's last wild population of buffalo and permanently protect this irreplaceable species and its habitat. Celebrated the world over, buffalo are a symbol of America's unyielding wildness, tenacious strength, and generous abundance. Buffalo once roamed the North American continent in the tens of millions, providing food, shelter, clothing and spiritual sustenance to First Nations. The wild buffalo living in and around Yellowstone National Park are the only buffalo to have continuously occupied their native habitat and the last buffalo to follow their migratory instincts as their ancestors did for thousands of years. It is this wild nomadic instinct to roam that threatens their existence. Wild American buffalo are ecologically extinct. In their absence, the land has suffered. By all measures the American buffalo should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, and restored on their native habitat. Yellowstone National Park lacks adequate winter range and spring calving grounds--key habitats necessary for the buffalo's survival. The immediate habitat buffalo seek and require exists within Montana, a state that does not allow them to roam freely. When buffalo migrate to habitat in Montana, they are harassed, captured and slaughtered under a multi-million dollar American taxpayer funded scheme. Since the Interagency Bison Management Plan was signed in 2000, over 3,000 wild American buffalo have been senselessly slaughtered and hundreds of others have been wounded or starved to death from being chased off of critical habitat. The annual slaughter is carried out under the pretense that buffalo might pass brucellosis to cattle, something that's never occurred in the wild. The real reasons for the slaughter are prejudice, intolerance, and greed, and it is long past time for a common sense solution. The failures of the Bison Management Plan were recognized by the U.S. Government Accountability Office last April, who reported "the agencies lack accountability among themselves and to the public, and it is difficult for the public to obtain information." House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall and Rep Maurice Hinchey have criticized the Plan as "plagued by deficiencies" and "severely limited" in it's ability to protect bison. Clearly, it is time for a new plan. There is much you can do, President Obama: * Direct the US Fish & Wildlife Service and all federal land managers to review threats to wild buffalo remaining in America and take pro-active initiatives to conserve habitat needed for buffalo's long-term survival. * Direct the National Park Service to withdraw from the Interagency Bison Management Plan and redirect taxpayer money to conserve buffalo habitat and migration corridors * Direct the Secretary of Agriculture to close the few public lands grazing allotments on National Forest lands near buffalo migration routes * Issue an Executive Order requiring all federal agencies to Initiate humane, scientific and ecological approaches that respect buffalo as native wildlife * Initiate a dialogue with interested Tribes on how to gain their participation in buffalo management, as they are the people who know the buffalo most intimately * Make funding available to state and tribal colleges for research and development of an effective vaccine for cattle. Almost driven to extinction during the 19th century, no other species embodies America's rich and wild past, and it's potential for the future, like the buffalo. The American buffalo represents our national, native heritage and they need immediate protection. For the health and integrity of the land, for First Nations buffalo cultures, for current and future generations to behold these awesome, prehistoric wonders, and for the buffalo themselves, please help restore this living American icon to the lands that are their birthright. Thank you, President Obama. For the Buffalo, We will add your signature from the information you provide.		First Name* Last Name* Email* Street* Street 2 City* State/Province* Select a state Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. 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