HELENA, Mt. (April 7, 2000) -- With the Travel Montana
2000 Governor's Tourism Conference scheduled for April 10-11, 2000 in
Big Sky, Montana, The Fund for Animals decided to send a tourism boycott
reminder to countless citizens across the country who are concerned
about Montana's indefensible bison policy.
In 1997, The Fund for Animals ran an advertisement in
USA Today calling for a tourism boycott of Montana because of the
state's refusal to tolerate bison who wander outside of Yellowstone
National Park. During the past decade, Montana has been responsible for
killing thousands of Yellowstone bison, most of whom were on federal
lands, insisting that the bison pose a disease threat to the state's
cattle industry. Despite the fact that there has never been a documented
case of bison transmitting the bacteria that causes the disease
brucellosis to cattle and the likelihood of such transmission ever
occurring is virtually nonexistent, Montana remains unwilling to adopt a
sensible bison management strategy.
"We want to remind vacationers that the boycott is still
in place and will continue until Montana officials demonstrate that they
care about Yellowstone bison," said Andrea Lococo,
alococo@wyoming.com, Rocky
Mountain Coordinator of The Fund for Animals. She added, "It's shameful
for Montana to encourage vacationers to view Yellowstone bison only to
turn around and slaughter these same animals when they exit the
sanctuary of the Park."
Michael Markarian, Executive Vice President of The Fund
for Animals, added, "If Montana is serious about addressing current and
future challenges in the tourism industry, as the tourism conference
materials suggest, then the time has come for Montana to take action to
respond to the concerns of the national and international public. They
want the killing of bison to stop once and for all. For the sake of the
bison, we urge Montana to listen."
The Fund for Animals is a national animal protection
organization founded by Cleveland Amory, with its headquarters in New
York City and one of its regional offices located in Jackson, Wyoming.
The Fund has been working on Yellowstone bison protection for over 15
years.
Source: Michael Markarian <mmarkarian@fund.org>
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