Buffalo were reduced from 50 million to 26 in the US

Evidence

When the buffalo guns quit shattering the peace of the prairie with death at the turn of the century, there were very few survivors. An estimated 26 animals remained within the U.S. borders, and perhaps some 500 in what would become Canada. The animals had watched their 50 million relatives disappear, and had hidden away. Today, there are two herds that are direct genetic descendants of the original herds: the buffalo herds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and Yellowstone National Park in the United States. These herds are arguably critical to any buffalo restoration efforts. Spiritually, native people maintain that these are the elders. — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 751

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Buffalo decimation caused the Lakota’s spiritual and ethnic death — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 748