( – promoted by buhdydharma )
(At the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma)
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. How can you buy or sell the sky? The warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.
We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on. He leaves his fathers’ graves and his children’s birthright is forgotten.
If only those words weren’t so relevant today.
Crossposted at Native American Netroots
The Gallatin National Forest has been permitting the Montana Department of Livestock to capture and slaughter bison, and the Forrest Service wants to continue letting the Montana Department of Livestock continue the capture and slaughter of bison in the Horse Butte area.
The Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL) was issued a special use permit from the Forest Service, after completion of a site specific environmental analysis in 1998. The special use permit authorized a portable bison capture facility to be operated on National Forest System (NFS) lands in the Horse Butte area.
– snip –
Proposed Action
The Forest Service is proposing to renew, for a 10 year term, MDOL’s permit, which authorizes continued use of NFS lands for the operation of the Horse Butte bison capture facility.
The Montana Department of Livestock and Yellowstone National Park have slaughtered 505 buffalo since February 11th. This is the last remaining free roaming herd of American Bison, (genetically pure) and they are threatened by the cattle industry in Montana.
Yellowstone officials continue to spill the blood of America’s last wild buffalo, our national heritage. Sixteen more buffalo were transported to slaughter Wednesday, 30 more were captured, and the 17 calves that were slated to be sent to the Corwin Springs Quarantine Facility will be sent to slaughter today, because the facility is not ready for them. A press release from Yellowstone National Park is pasted at the end of this special alert.
Thank you for all the action you have been taking in the past couple of days. This morning our Week of Action begins in earnest with a series of National Call-in Days to target decision-makers responsible for the harassment and slaughter of the last wild buffalo population in the United States.
We begin by calling Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis. Three phone numbers and talking points are provided below.
I know I’m supposed to write more in my own words, but I can’t right now. I just can’t.
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A government — corporate cooperation agreement is slaughtering the deer in Pt. Reyes. I just got the information from a friend, but I don’t have time to post it now.
I’ll be back in a couiple of hours and get it out here.
So, so sorry for this brutality, lack of respect, lack of understanding.
I just recieved this letter from a dharma friend, Jane:
Her friend, ella, wrote to her:
Thanks for listening.
and
Thanks winter rabbit for helping to keep us straight!
I think we might include the buffalo in our writings to Ella, Boxer.
Again, the email: [email protected]
We need…
The phone #s & talking points.