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			THE BUFFALO WAR

Tell us what you think about THE BUFFALO WAR.

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04/02/2009

i'm sure that the slime of bureaucracy is to do nothing, say nothing and be nothing...if the native american had the money to pay, they'd play....and handily come out on top.....the gov't will complain, and ours is to give them a reason.....if the buffalo ever posed a problem, then from the beginning it should have been so noticed, AND SOLVED!!...we've solved so many health problems since the beginning of the century there's no reason, if this ever was a problem, it couldn't have been dealt with many, many years ago....catastrophic, but true..a great tragedy of our gov't is indifference....they find it impossible to repair unconcern....there must be more to life than having everything, our gov't, that is.....the native american, with all their problems, should be dealt with honor and respect....after all, they look at happiness thru someone elses eyes and should have the opportunity to see any happiness thru their own......

well done is better than well said!!

12/17/2007
Matthew Testa

I was pleased to learn recently that the Munns' property at Horse Butte has been purchased by new owners who are interested in preserving the land there and allowing bison to graze unmolested. These new landowners were able to outbid other buyers who were intent on developing the property Instead, there will be a few new homesites, but the owners are working to put a conservation easement on the land so that most of it is protected against development. It's great news for the Butte and the bison there, though I am told the Montana DOL intends to continue its bison management practices at Horse Butte, even with the cattle gone. If this is true, it would seem to again call into question the DOL's motives, which are supposedly to protect Montana cattle. I'm sure it wasn't easy for the Munns family to let their place go, but the good news is they got the best possible price for their land and it will stay pretty much as is. Just goes to show how much influence private property owners and can have when they decide to put preservation ahead of profit.

11/16/2007

I personally beleive that the buffalo are beautiful creatures that deserve respect, grazing and breeding grounds. BUT, I also think that American farmers deserve a place to graze their cattle as well. The American cattle farmers have the same problems that Native Americans had in earlier times. They are being forced off and out of their lands. I don't think that it's very fair to blame the cattlemen on the problems with the buffalo population. The over population of the United States is forcing cattlemen off of their farmland and they are forced to find more and more rural country to farm on. I do not beleive that the bison should be slaughtered, I think that they should have a designated grazing area. But American cattle farmers deserve land to.

Barbara Warner

The slaughter of American bison is completely unnecessary as no knowncases of brucellosis have been found to be transmitted to cattle . Thesecattle should not even be on public land as they do not belong to thepublic and are the cause of the bison slaughter as well as destroyinghabitat for other wildlife such as the wild horses that are being roundedup in increasing numbers. The activists and Native Americans are in thr right . What the state ofMT is doing is a crime.

basma samira

There was not one mention of Native Americans being able to make some kind of effort to provide a way to maintain bison on some of their reservations. The manure would fertilize, the bison would mow the lawn,so to speak,and raising bison would provide the sort of income to start to revitalize lands so in need of help. Self help I suppose is what I mean. Certainly a lot of forethought and physical work. If that is not a viable plan, well I am not sure that there is any real solution to the situation at hand.I tend to resolve myself to solve a problem before I turn to answers outside of myself.

teresa

It is unfortunate that the "dramatic" efforts of the activists are ineffective. Until a method is used that the government acknowledges/responds to from respect or duty, no gain will be accomplished.Neither the Federal Government, the ranchers, nor activists should have a single, deciding voice in bison management decisions. The entire effected public should as the space in question IS public land.The slaughters show not only a disregard for Native culture and wildlife but is a glaring reflection of the self-serving actions of those whose worlds are made very small by thorough intolerance.

Doug Boardman

I feel that the Ranchers and the State of Montana are in the wrong. The buffalo have a right to feed on the grass. It is public land that is open to the public. If we let them continue this slaughter there will be a way of life that will be terminated. It has been the way of the Native Americans and the buffalo for thousands of years to live on the plains, etc. The Ranchers should not be permitted to have their cattle on public land. I hope that there can be a peaceful solution found. I would hate to see the free life of the buffalo and the Native Americans come to an end. God be with both sides at this time.

Diane Martin

I am so glad your station is airing this program about the buffalo.I only wish it was on at an earlier hour.I believe public lands should be used for wildlife, not cows.The government makes no money worth mentioning by letting cattle graze on our lands. These buffalo need this grazing area. They pose no real threat to the cows that graze there.By the time the buffalo use "their" land the cows are gone and the winter sets in. When the cattle come back out in spring the buffalo are back in the park. The ranchers just want everything their way, just like always. I say give the public lands back to the buffalo and the people who really pay for it.

Carol Wagner

The Yellowstone N.P. Buffalo herd -- the last of our free-ranging bison, with possible unique genetic traits -- should be protected as a national treasure. Instead, when they wander out of Yellowstone into their traditional winter range in Gallatin National Forest, the Federal Dept. of Agriculture (in charge of natl. forests) allies with Montana ranching interests to capture and kill them. This is done with Federal taxpayer money. I say, get the cattle out of Gallatin Natl. Forest and give excess Yellowstone bison into the respectful care of Native Americans.

Jill Axford

As the Lakota People walked with the sacred pipe to Yellowstone Park," praying their way " through the elements of weather, prejudice and hardship I found them to be the honorable ones in the buffalo war. Young and old walked the long road to hold a piercing ceremony which "from the pain they suffered had humbled them." They did this to honor the buffalo.
In contrast, the ranchers held a picnic and took pictures of their family romping and eating fried chicken. It seemed such a shallow effort to show solidarity for their way of life after seeing the flesh of the Native man pierced with pieces of wood that were tied by a rope to the skull of a buffalo.
The ranch owner said he didn't want the buffalo to eat the grass that his cattle grazed. I can not grasp such selfishness nor can I understand his white supremist attitude. His relations did not say they were working hard to preserve the ranch lands and find a solution that would benefit the buffalo and help insure their future prosperity. They talked instead of the land devlopers who hover near by to grab the land and sell it for profit. A profit they will surely benefit from not the Lakota People. I can not imagine his loss will be great when he sells his herd and cashes in his land.
Where is the honor of a people who closed the door of the school gymnasiam in the face of the Natives, calling them dirty Indians? When Rosalie said she felt sorry for those who did such a thing and that she knew it was about what kind of people they were and not them as Natives her words told me of the spirit that keeps her people strong.
Blood tests revealed that 80% of the herd was disease free. Then why the killing of the herds? Is it not just as easy to supply winter feed for the herd as it is to round them up and slaughter them? I see the Montana government as weak and ineffective for not finding adequate ways to preserve the herd or work with the Native culture and recognize that the Natives are to be respected and treated with dignity simply because that is their land. When there is justice for the Lakota People and their way of life the buffalo will be free.

sean cunningham

This is the first I've heard of the Buffalo war, but being of Sioux and Cherokee decent,I am well aware of the many atrocities perpetrated on not only the first nations' people in america, but all indiginous peoples around the world.I see no difference in the extermination ATTEMPT of people vs. animals.It seems to me that it all boils down to one thing,GREED.People that have a heritage of moving from their homeland,to anothers'seem to act like a virus,using up all that is usable and eradicating all that is deemed unusable,then moving to fresh ground to duplicate the process.People housed in "RESERVATIONS",animals confined to limited areas, these are not mutually beneficial situations,this is the land of the free? for who? not the buffalo or the people that once roamed this once great nation.Only for the viral infection that now roams our land ,THE GREEDY.

Larry James Luxton

Yellowstone bison should be allowed to live on public landwhether there are cattle on the land or not. Bison are more of a native than cattle. Cattle owners graze there cattle for free or nearly free on public lands. Cattle should be the first to go from public lands, not bison. Ifthe bison have burcellosis, wouldn't their numbers be greatlydepleted? Is that the case? Idoubt it.

Shloime Perel

Not a single case of brucellosis transmission, in the field, from healthy bison to cattle has ever been discovered. On the other hand, elk, unlike bison, roam free in Montana among cattle, yet the State of Montana does not have a hazing and killing campaign against them. Why, then, the intolerance against the buffalo? Might there be cultural-historical reasons?The cattle industry has a history of intolerance toward native animal species "on the range," based on the mistaken belief that their existance contradicts that of the cattle. The most tragic instance of this, still ongoing, is that of the prairie dog (a member of the squirrel family), killed in the millions. Prairie dog are a key species for the plants and animals in the plains ecosystem, yet they have fallen victim to the prejudices of the cattle industry, which has mobilized the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to continuously slaughter them. The supreme irony of all this is that it is the cattle industry that kills the cattle, yet kills other species under the mistaken rationale of protecting the cattle.

Mike Wicks

The slaughter of animals native to this continent is taking place under the stated reason of protecting animals not native to this continent. The disease brucellosis is not native to this continent either. It was imported along with the cattle, and the buffalo that test positive for this disease actually contracted it from the cattle. This disease causes cows to abort their calfs, yet not one single case of a buffalo aborting a calf due to the disease has ever been recorded. Which proves the buffalo have been exposed to the disease, but it does not affect them in the same manner that it does cattle. Buffalo are able to overcome the disease while cattle are not. Buffalo should be allowed to graze on federal lands as it is their natural migrational area. Cattle should not be allowed because they spread disease to the native inhabitants - the buffalo.

Raymond E. Bowden

These are questions in response to an Idaho PBS presentation.As I understood the information presented, cattle can become infected with brucellosis from elk and bison.Bison have been routinely slaughtered to protect cattle, but not elk.Many parts of Idaho have cattle grazing in elk country for the entire grazing season. I have seen elk intermixed with cattle.But we do not slaughter elk on a wholesale basis.
Q. 1. Why aren't Idaho cattle all infected from brucellosis from elk?
Q. 2. Can cattle actually become infected by buffalo during grazing season?
Q. 3. Can cattle actually become infected by elk during grazing season?
Q. 4. Is the real reason for shooting buffalo on public lands which are leased out for cattle grazing is that they are eating grass that would be there for the cattle if the buffalo didn't eat it?
Q. 5. How many years were the ranchers shooting the buffalo unbeknownst to the general public before the 'greens' and Indians began to open it up to the world?
Q. 6. It is claimed but not proven that buffalo can infect cattle with brucellosis. Why haven't researchers placed some brucellosis infected buffalo in an enclosed area with uninfected cattle for a 12 month period to see if, what and when something happens? To avoid sabotage, the experiment could beconducted on an Indian reservation.
Ray Bowden

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