![[New for the Democrats - Committee on Resources - U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, Ranking Democrat - 1329 Longworth HOB - Washington, DC 20015]](news_banner.gif) | ||
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Ranking Democrat Committee on Resources | ||
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U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2004 Interior Department appropriations bill to prohibit the use of federal funds to capture or kill bison. The amendment failed, 199-220. The slaughter occurs in response to a few nearby cattle ranchers, who are fearful that the bison will spread brucellosis to nearby grazing cattle. However, this disease has never been transmitted from bison to cattle in the wild. Further, most of the bison are not even tested to see if they actually carry the disease before being sent to their deaths. Once numbering in the millions, a century of wanton slaughter pushed the bison to the brink of extinction. The only remaining, continuously free-roaming herd now lives in Yellowstone National Park and numbers around 3,000. The bison leave the Park in search of food during the frozen winter months, a trip they have been making since well before the Park or state boundaries existed. Every year, however, an average of 250 bison have either been shipped off to slaughter or shot on sight. Attached are a fact sheet on the issue and Rahall's remarks delivered during debate of the amendment on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. |
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