Montana slaughtered over 2,500 Yellowstone buffalo in three years

Evidence

The state of Montana slaughtered and auctioned off over 2,500 buffalo between 1995 and 1997. A third of the herd from Yellowstone National Park was shot when it crossed the invisible border between park and state land. In 1998, however, only 11 buffalo were killed, largely due to Rosalie’s vigilance. Rosalie and a resolute group of friends called Buffalo Nations have, through direct action and civil disobedience, put themselves between the buffalo and the guns of Montana’s state officials, part of this century-old, seemingly continuous slaughter. By acting as a human shield, they have asked a simple question: When will the buffalo be allowed to return to their past prominence, and when will their spirits be free? — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 710

Categorization

• XREF: Yellowstone herd slaughter parallels the Innu caribou and hunters killed while hunting was banned, and the federal-services bait-and-control pattern in ch5/ch8. — connects to: Buffalo slaughter protects only about 3,000 cattle on wildlife-designated public land — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 766; U.S. forces slaughtered buffalo deliberately to starve Native peoples into submission — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1195
• ADDENDUM: Direct case evidence for how colonial wildlife/land policy treats Indigenous food relationships; parallels the complaint about hunting being criminalized while settlers’ livestock kills are compensated.

Broader Connections

• U.S. forces slaughtered buffalo deliberately to starve Native peoples into submission #complicates (0.75) — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1195
• Buffalo slaughter protects only about 3,000 cattle on wildlife-designated public land #qualifies (0.72) — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 766