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Bad news. Four buffalo were captured and trucked out of Yellowstone by the Sheridan slaughterhouse owner!

If you'll recall, the DOL STILL can't account for all the thousands of bucks they got from the auction proceeds from sales of hides, skulls, meats, etc from last year.

From http://www.wintercount.org with permission:

Buffalogate

On January 21, 1998, the American Public was ripped off for over $15,000. Did anybody happen to notice? Does anybody care? During a time when Newt is screaming for cutbacks to Indian Nations and school lunch programs, at a time when more people are homeless in American than in the history of this country, have we become so callous and unfeeling that we don't care when we are told of deliberate theft of our natural resources?

Five Buffalo were baited by the Montana Department of Livestock with hay outside West Yellowstone, Montana, hazed outside the park and like thieves in the night, taken by a slaughterhouse truck to be slaughtered. Five buffalo--$3,000 each. You figure it up.

I won't go into the ethical, moral or spiritual significance of this theft. I won't bore you with the tears it causes Indian People, but what I will tell you is that you are considered suckers by the State of Montana and the US Federal Government. They consider you stupid sheep who are too lazy to pick up a phone or send a fax in protest.

I happen to think they're wrong, so I'm going to tell you a story. Last year, over a hundred thousand dollars was taken by the Montana Dept of Livestock from auction proceeds of bison. You remember those bison, over a thousand of them were killed by the State of Montana for the crime of wandering off the National Park lands.

The Montana DOL couldn't account for the money other than to say it went into their "travel budget." Did they thank you for their food and drink bills while staying at the Best Western in Gardiner Mt. while waiting to capture more strays? I didn't think so.

Consider you, as a taxpayer got ripped off for over a hundred thousand dollars.

NOW, consider the tribal member who sold broken down equipment that he thought was discarded by the US Government, a year ago. He got 5 years in prison for not following the official sealed bid process that is required when Property of the US Government is disposed of.

What's wrong with this picture?

I wrote to the National Park Service and asked if the Bison weren't considered US Government Property and how could they be disposed of without sealed bid process?

I was told the National Park Service doesn't consider them their property anymore once they cross the Park Boundary.

REALLY?

Does that mean any US Citizen can just run up to Montana, take a stock trailer and pick their buffalo to take home?

Try it.

Fifteen thousand dollars already stolen this year (and they'll probably charge off their proceeds to cover the cost of baiting the buffalo and corralling them, as they did last year).

The State of Montana has become so arrogant, so defiant that they flip you off in your face, with a defiant attitude because they KNOW you're not going to stand up and demand a congressional investigation of where that money went.

Folks?

That is TAXPAYER money. Those Buffalo are assets of each of you. Your taxes paid to support those buffalo. You own a piece of each one of them. Would you allow a thief to come into your home and steal your personal possessions?

Maybe it doesn't sound like a lot of money. Yet.

But lets talk 1,100 buffalo from last year. Over a third of a million dollars that belonged to the US Tax paying public was handed over to the State of Montana without question--blood money.

And now they're doing it again.

Are you, as the State of Montana believes, going to sit back as mindless sheep and let them continue to rip you off?

Or are you fed up with the corruption of big brothers and ready to drive your congressmen nuts about this issue?

You and I are considered little people with no political clout, no power. I remind you that we elect these thieves and we can just as easily impeach them out of office.

YOU have the power. YOU do NOT have to sit back and watch legalized theft occur of our precious natural resources.

It's up to you.

As my Cherokee Grandmother would say to you.

You've been told. You're accountable.

Dammit. DO SOMETHING.

Call it what it is folks--Legalized Theft.

Course you didn't protest too much about the $10,000 toilet seats either.

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