Maurice Hinchey: “we must stop the Park Service from killing Yellowstone National Park's buffalo. More than any other animal, the American…”

“we must stop the Park Service from killing Yellowstone National Park's buffalo. More than any other animal, the American buffalo is a wildlife icon of the United States. The buffalo is the symbol that represents the Department of the Interior. The buffalo is profoundly significant to Native American cultures and perhaps more than any other wildlife species has influenced our history. In the late 19th century, buffalo were nearly exterminated. After tens of millions of buffalo were killed, only 200 wild buffalo remained in the Nation and all were located in Yellowstone National Park. Due to poaching, their numbers were reduced to 25 by the turn of the last century. The offspring of the 25 survivors, today's Yellowstone National Park buffalo, comprise the only wild, free-roaming buffalo to continually occupy their native habitat in the United States. Yet the Yellowstone buffalo herd is still under assault. Since 1984, nearly 3,700 buffalo have been killed in Montana. This past winter, 244 buffalo were killed by the Federal and State agencies, including 231 captured and slaughtered by the National Park Service. The Department of the Interior does this under the guise of preventing the spread of brucellosis to cattle. Here are the facts. There has never been a confirmed incidence of brucellosis transmission in the wild from buffalo to cattle.”