NEWS: Now That They're Not as Close to Extinction, Let's Kill 'Em Dead

CULTURE: Now That They're Not as Close to Extinction, Let's Kill 'Em Dead

Ah, the bison, that majestic symbol of the American West. Did you know, that to this day, there are still some people who think that buffalo are extinct? They're not, of course, even though they came pretty close once upon a time. Between 1868 and 1881 an estimated 31 million were slaughtered, and by 1889 the vast herd was nearly extinct, falling to a mere 1,100 in the U.S. and Canada.

More recently, efforts have been made to protect the bison, but at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, home to one of the nation's largest free-roaming herds, all that's about to change.

Federal wildlife managers!? Doesn't that title sound like someone who'd be dedicated to protecting wildlife? So ironic! And why on earth would they want to cut the herd by nearly half? A couple of the excuses being given by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is that the buffalo on this "refuge" have been "overgrazing" and can carry diseases that might infect domestic livestock.

Well, shoot. We wouldn't want one of the world's oldest, most majestic creatures eating more grass than its fair share! Better just to kill them. And all of those antibiotics that our domestic livestock are dosed with surely wouldn't be a match for the germs carried by such an ancient, filthy beast. Annnyway. Unsurprisingly, a lot of "animal rights" types are pretty pissed off.

So, how did this happen? What kind of crafy, clever brainwork went into this killer plan?

Okay, cool--so they're killing them to protect them from death. That makes sense.

Well, population control is pretty important. Considering how fucking tiny we've made their habitat, it's now much easier for them to reach the ceiling of their sustainability, like cattle overgrazing a farm. So I can see the logic behind this.

Shouldn't that properly be, "The hunt aims to cull 300 bison -- also called buffalo -- by December"? Since the animal's proper name is the American bison and all. Buffalo are a related, but separate, group of animals--the Asian water buffalo and African buffalo.

Now, parse this gramatically correct sentence: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Considering bison actually eat less than what cattle normally do, I can hardly see the point of them culling. when all the cattle are going to end up as, is meat on your table and that generally they would not even share the same Habitat as bison either.

The smarter and more responsible thing for us to do is move some of them to new land so that instead of knocking their numbers back down, they can build up. Sure there are too many for that land to sustain, but there's plenty of other land out there.

Stop making sense, you, or you`re outta here!

At least now we get our Bison burgers, which are actually pretty tasty.

Yes, but buffalo are delicious! And lower in cholesterol that beef (also delicious)! Plus, if we leave too many of them alive, it might inspire the American Indian to rise up against us again.

"We must destroy this village in order to liberate it."

Isn't that supposed to be a question mark?

The smarter thing to do would be to shoot some of the goddamn cows.

Jesus Christ.

That is all.

As someone from Wyoming and who also has to be pro-animal-rights I think you need to go read about Wyoming winters and the massive funding cuts that have happened since Bush came to power. There is only so much food in the forest, particularly in the winter. The government has been feeding the Elk and by proxy the Bison to keep them from starving in the winter which has the benefit of keeping all the ranged-livestock's food supplies viable during the winter and also keeps the pro-animal activists happy because the elk and bison numbers keep going up. They do this because it allows a single solution for winter food scarcity for all of the ranchers as opposed to them all having to come up with independent solutions (see how they solved the wolf problem). The Bush administration has severely cut the funding that allowed such programs to exist. The options have become: a) let the animals starve and freeze to death in the winter naturally, slowly, and painfully because the state can't afford to feed them anymore or b) thin the herd by allowing them to be hunted unnaturally but quickly. If it were up to me and I had a choice on how I had to die I would take being hunted over starving to death any day.

The guys that make these decisions do actually love animals and the environment and they understand the impact of their actions. I know everyone wants life to be lollipops and rainbows; however, in reality, wild things kill, get killed, and starve etc. Man has obviously caused a disruption and now we have the choice on whether we can manage our disruption or just let everything die naturally and painfully. There is no going back to the way things were. The state allows the hunting because it takes what would be a large area covered with dead rotting diseased carcasses and turns it into a balanced area and a lot of freezers full of "free-range" organic bison meat. That is how they determine how many animals can be hunted every year and that is how they determine how many licenses to hand out. The number is higher than it has ever been because there has been no controlled hunting allowed for almost a decade due to a lawsuit. The population growth has gone up accordingly. It didn't go up naturally. All of those Bison could be killed in a single winter if the state stopped feeing them.

This is how the world works whether people want to admit it or not. Things are not as black and white as cynical know-it-alls make them out to be. If you take a trip to Yellowstone one year after a hard winter and see what it does to the wildlife, you'll understand that what the game and fish department is up against. They have lawsuits coming from people that have never even been to the state on one side, ranchers on another side, and they are in the middle with the animals and very little funding. Game and Fish of Wyoming is doing is the most humane thing that can be done with the given resources in the given situation.

A well spoken man in a cowboy hat? That's like an emotional robot.

Well put though, Mr. rumpsummoner.

Ah, but what is "the world"?

If you bring Descartes into this, I might have to hurt somebody.

Keep in mind that we have killed off the coyotes and wolves in this area. These animals have no natural mechanism to keep their herds in check. Prey needs predators just as surely as predators need prey. Without predators the herds become too large and they overgraze, starve, get diseased, and die. They can't split themselves into smaller herds and migrate to new grounds...we've fenced them in.

So...leave them alone and they die a slow and miserable death. Move them and we simply delay the inevitable and have to do this all over again in a couple of years in the new area too. When that herd gets too big, as we know it will, where do we move them?

for the record they are pretty damn tasty

Did you steal this all from my Hunter's Ed. Book? Well put Mr. Rumpsummoner, well put. Only 2 weeks 'till rifle season on deer here! Oh wait, I shouldn't go harvest a deer, that's mean and bad. Better to let it live and have the herd starve and get diseased and all. Much nicer and more humane.

Culling the herd should be done with the goal of improving it. Trophy hunting is not it the herd's best interest. Also the hunting of bison has been described as shooting a sofa.

Hunting bison is not a sport these animals will not flee, do not need to be stalked, and the gunmen (they are not hunters) do not need outdoor skills. Unless you believe that cattle in a slaughterhouse are also being hunted.

Send in the game wardens, the range managers, and the biologist and cull the herd properly.

and to the fund for Animals STFU! If the culling was done when it was first proposed and on a regular basis we would not be in this mess.

read more here Bison Face Hunting at Wyoming Refuge

Wow, what LA hippie rag did this causehead read and get all fired up? Dude, we got the Bison issue under control out here in the west. It's better to have a health and genetically diverse population that is manageable than starving, sick excuses to bison running around. Hell, if they looke dlike that they could live in LA! Nagga Nooch!

Less people, more bison.

Ted's Montana Grill has some really great Bison Burgers, that's for sure.

If you don't want the herd to be thinned Donate money to feed the bison OR pay to have them relocated to another location capable of maintaining there health.

But don't say that Bison are helpless and wont react to people, unless you show me video of you petting one. Even on game ranches bison will attack or run (depending on What happend)

Reguardless of anything else Please! do some research On Your Own, before calling wildlife workers "Stupid" there is a reason why they have the job and We don't!

+1. They're great for eating, but too many people and too many cows are the problem. They shouldn't have to be culled, not if we think longer term. For now, maybe, that's a decent solution, but shit, the title of the article is right. We shouldn't be shooting them to keep them alive. We should be giving them room to grow.