The extermination of the American buffalo

The bison, or buffalo, is believed to have originated in Eurasia and then crossed the Bering Strait land bridge that at one time connected the Asian and North American continents. In prehistoric times, massive herds literally darkened the face of the earth as they roamed and foraged for food. Over many centuries, buffalo slowly migrated south to inhabit much of the prairies of the United States. Seas of buffalo herds stretched across the horizon from Canada to Mexico and from the Pacific Northwest coast in southeastern Oregon to Florida.

Bison were the largest single species of large wild mammal on Earth and are the largest land mammal in North America since the end of the Ice Age. A male buffalo can be up to six feet tall and weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

Before the white man’s desecration of American wilderness, Native Americans depended on the buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter. The Indian culture had reverence and respect for the buffalo and used the meat, hide and bones of the beast.

In the 19th century, buffalo were hunted to near extinction. In the 1880s, only a few hundred of these magnificent creatures survived.

The main reason for the extermination of the herds of giants was the profitable harvest of buffalo skins. There was a lucrative export trade to Europe in buffalo skins to make the luxurious rugs and robes so coveted by the wealthy elite. Wild West buffalo hunting was very often a massive commercial enterprise, involving organized teams of professional hunters, backed by a crew of skinners, gun cleaners, reloaders, camp cooks, cowboys, blacksmiths, truckers, and numerous horses, mules and carts. Men were even employed to retrieve and remelt lead bullets taken from the casing piles.

Between 1873 and 1883 there were more than a thousand of these professional hunting companies operating in the United States. History records that between 50,000 and 100,000 buffalo were executed per day, depending on the season. Buffalo hunters left carcasses that slowly decomposed into giant piles of buffalo bones, making the prairie so white some said it looked as if it were covered in snow even during the summer months. After the carcasses had rotted, the buffalo bones were collected and shipped back east.

Many of these professional hunters, like Buffalo Bill Cody, slaughtered hundreds of animals at a single post and many thousands in their career. A proud professional hunter slaughtered over 20,000 by his own count. A medium-quality fur could cost $3, and a top-quality fur (the heavy winter coat) could sell for $50 in an era when a worker would be lucky enough to earn a dollar a day. Greed is a great motivator. Many people denounced the massacre but few actively did anything to stop the carnage.

The extermination of the American buffalo was part of a diabolical plot by the United States government to control the American Indian population. There were government initiatives, both at the local and federal levels, to starve the Plains Indian population by removing their primary food source, the buffalo. Herds were the basis of survival for the Plains tribes. Without buffalo to feed and clothe them, the Indians would be forced to leave or starve.

Because the Indians were so dependent on the buffalo for their survival, their very religions centered around the buffalo. The interdependence between Indians and buffalo is exemplified in the poetic words of John Fire Lame Deer:

“The buffalo gave us everything we needed. Without him we were nothing. Our tipis were made of his skin. His skin was our bed, our blanket, our winter coat. He was our drum, beating in the night, alive, sacred. With his skin we made our bags of water. His strengthened flesh became flesh of our flesh. Not the smallest part of it was wasted. His stomach, a red-hot stone thrown into it, became our pot of soup. His horns were our spoons, his bones our knives, our awls and women’s needles. With his tendons we made our bowstrings and thread. His ribs became sleds for our children, his hooves became rattles. mighty skull, with the pipe resting on it, was our sacred altar. The name of the greatest of all Sioux was Tatanka Iyotake – Sitting Bull. When you killed the buffalo you also killed the Indian – the real, natural, “wild” Indian .

The government also actively encouraged buffalo hunting for other reasons. A reduction in the buffalo population allowed ranchers to graze their cattle without competition from other cattle. The railroad industry also wanted to cull or eliminate buffalo herds. Herds of buffalo on railroad tracks could damage or derail locomotives when trains didn’t stop in time. During winter storms, massive herds often sought shelter in the man-made cuts formed by the grade of tracks that wind through the grasslands and hills. As a result, herds of buffalo could delay a train for several days, and delays cost money.

In 1884, the American buffalo was on the verge of extinction and proposals were put forward to protect the buffalo. Recognizing that the pressure on the species was too great, Cody was one of the most vocal advocates of measures to save the dwindling buffalo population.

In South Dakota, James “Scotty” Phillips’s herd was one of the first reintroductions of buffalo to North America. In 1899, Phillips had a goal of preserving the species from extinction and purchased a small herd from Doug Carlin. Carlin’s son, Fred, had tethered 5 calves in the last great buffalo hunt on the Grand River in 1881 and transported them to the family’s ranch on the Cheyenne River. At the time of purchase, there were approximately 7 pure buffalo remaining in the United States.

By the time of his death in 1911 at age 53, Phillips had grown the herd to an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 head. Several other herds were also established from the 5 calves rescued at Grand River.

During that same time, two Montana ranchers, Charles Allard and Michel Pablo, spent more than 20 years amassing one of the largest collections of purebred bison on the continent. At the time of Allard’s death in 1896, the herd numbered 300. In 1907, after the U.S. government refused to purchase the bison herd, Pablo signed a contract with the Canadian government to send most of his herd north, to the newly built Elk. Island National Park.

The current population of American buffalo has rapidly recovered and is estimated at 350,000, compared to an estimated 75 to 100 million in the mid-19th century. However, most of today’s herds are genetically contaminated or partially crossbred with cattle. There are currently only four genetically unmixed herds and only one that is also brucellosis free; resides in Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. The American Prairie Association recently established a founder population of 16 Wind Cave herd animals in Montana.

The only continuously wild buffalo herd in America is found within Yellowstone National Park. Numbering about 3,500, this herd is directly descended from a remnant population of 23 individual buffalo that survived mass decimation in the 19th century by hiding out in Yellowstone Park’s Pelican Valley.

Yellowstone Park buffalo have occasionally descended to lower elevations outside the park in search of winter forage. The presence of wild buffalo outside the park is perceived as a threat by many ranchers, who fear that the small percentage of bison that carry brucellosis will infect their cattle and cause cows to abort their calves. However, there has never been a documented case of transmission of brucellosis to livestock from wild bison. The controversy that began in the early 1980s continues to this day. Advocacy groups argue that the Yellowstone herd should be protected as a distinct population segment under the Endangered Species Act.

In Montana, where public herds require culling to control the target population of bison, hunting was reinstated in 2005.

Buffalo live 15 to 20 years in the wild, although the average lifespan depends on local predators, hunting pressures, and natural disasters. Bison have been known to live up to 40 years in captivity.

The bison remains an icon of American culture, yet our previous treatment of this majestic animal is disgraceful. Hopefully, we will carefully consider how to ensure an ecological future for the buffalo and all the wild creatures that still inhabit our precious planet.