By 
The bison, or buffalo, is believed to have originated in Eurasia and later crossed the Bering Strait land bridge that at one point linked the Asian and North American continents. In prehistoric times, huge herds literally darkened the face of the earth as they roamed and searched for food. Over many centuries, the buffalo slowly migrated south until they inhabited much of the grasslands of the United States. Seas of buffalo herds stretched along the horizon from Canada to Mexico and from the Pacific Northwest coast in southeastern Oregon to Florida.
The bison was the largest single species of large wild mammal on Earth and is 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 desecration of the American wilderness by the white man, Native Americans relied on buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter. The Indian culture had reverence and respect for the buffalo and used the meat, skin and bones of the beast.
In the 19th century, buffalo were hunted to near extinction. In the 1880s, only a few hundred of the magnificent creatures survived.
The main reason for the extermination of the giant herds was the profitable gathering of buffalo hides. There was a lucrative export trade to Europe of buffalo hides to make the luxurious carpets and dresses so coveted by the wealthy elite. Buffalo hunting in the Old West was very often a massive commercial endeavor, involving organized teams of professional hunters, backed by a team of skinners, gun cleaners, rechargers, camp cooks, cowboys, blacksmiths, transporters, and numerous horses, mules and carts. Men were even employed to retrieve and recast lead bullets from the guts.
Between 1873 and 1883 there were more than a thousand of these professional hunting companies operating in the United States. History records that up to 50,000 – 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 meadow so white that some said it looked like it was covered in snow even during the summer months. After the carcasses rotted, the buffalo bones were collected and shipped back east.
Many of these professional hunters, like Buffalo Bill Cody, have slaughtered hundreds of animals in one position and many thousands in their careers. A proud professional hunter slaughtered more than 20,000 by his own count. Average quality fur could cost $ 3 and a premium (the heavy winter coat) could sell for $ 50 at a time 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 did anything actively to stop the massacre.
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 population of the Plains Indians by eliminating their main source of food, 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 buffalo for their survival, their very religions centered on the buffalo. The interdependence between the Indian and the buffalo is exemplified in the poetic words of John Fire Lame Deer:
“The buffalo gave us everything we needed. Without him we would be nothing. Our teepees were made from their skin. His skin was our bed, our blanket, our winter coat. It was our drum, beating in the night, alive, holy. With his skin we made our water bags. His flesh strengthened us, it became the flesh of our flesh. Not the smallest part was wasted. His stomach, a red-hot stone that fell into him, became our kettle. our spoons, our bones, our knives, our punches and women’s needles. With his tendons we made our bowstrings and thread. Their ribs became sleighs for our children, their hooves became bells. His mighty skull, pipe leaning against him. , it was our sacred altar. The name of the greatest of all the 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 distribute their cattle without competing with other cattle. The railroad industry also wanted buffalo herds to be culled or eliminated. Buffalo herds on train tracks could damage or derail locomotives when trains don’t stop in time. During winter storms, massive herds often sought refuge in the artificial cuts formed by the slopes of the tracks that snaked through the meadows and hills. As a result, buffalo herds could delay a train for several days, and delays cost money.
In 1884, the American buffalo was near extinction and proposals were made 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 bought a small herd from Doug Carlin. Carlin’s son Fred had tied 5 calves in the Last Great Buffalo Hunt on the Grand River in 1881 and transported them to the family ranch on the Cheyenne River. At the time of purchase, there were approximately 7 pure buffalo left in the United States.
By the time of his death in 1911 at age 53, Phillips had developed the herd to an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 head. Several other herds of the 5 calves rescued were also established in Grand River.
During that same time, two Montana ranchers, Charles Allard and Michel Pablo, invested more than 20 years in assembling 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 US government refused to buy the herd of bison, Pablo signed a contract with the Canadian government to ship most of his pack to the north, to the newly built Elk. Island National Park.
The current American buffalo population has recovered rapidly and is estimated at 350,000, compared with an estimated 75-100 million in the mid-1800s. However, most of today’s herds are genetically contaminated or partially crossed with livestock. At present there are only four genetically unmixed herds and only one that is also free from bruising; resides in Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. A founding population of 16 animals from the Wind Cave herd was recently established in Montana by the American Prairie Association.
The only continuously wild herd of buffalo in the United States is found within Yellowstone National Park. This herd, numbering about 3,500, is directly descended from a remnant population of 23 individual buffalo that survived the mass annihilation of the 19th century by hiding in Yellowstone Park’s Pelican Valley.
Yellowstone Park buffaloes have occasionally descended to lower elevations outside the park in search of winter boreholes. The presence of wild buffalo outside the park is perceived as a threat by many ranchers, who fear that the small percentage of brucellosis-bearing bison will infect their cattle and cause cows to abort their young. However, there has never been a documented case of transmission of brucellosis to cattle by 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 must be slaughtered to control the target bison population, hunting was re-established in 2005.
Buffaloes live 15-20 years in the wild, although the average lifespan depends on local predators, hunting pressures, and natural disasters. Bison are known to live up to 40 years in captivity.
The bison remains an icon of American culture, yet our past treatment of this majestic animal is disgraceful. Hopefully, we will carefully consider how to ensure a green future for the buffalo and all the wild creatures that still inhabit our precious planet.