http://www.physorg.com/news105106983.html

I truely beleive that some people would slaughter their mothers, if there were enough money involved... And, the slaughter of bison continues to this day in Yellowstone Nat"l Park. And it"s being carried out by the people who are appointed to protect endangered species. This is the world"s last stand of wild buffalo. My personal opinion is that it is being done to further harrass the aboriginal americans and further the local cattle ranchers interests. And it"s all backed by a local church that stands to make a bundle on fees to allow bison to cross church property durning the annual migration. Information can be found on the site of the Buffalo Field Campaign at www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

International trade was more of a surplus by product, else the plains would not have been littered with millions of rotting, unharvested carcasses, including meat, hides, etc. I do not doubt that such trade occurred but had it been the motivating force, then such stories would not have been so rampant.

In 1873, on the floor of congress, there was no attempt to hide the basis for the slaughter and it is a matter of public record - to deny the people indigenous to this continent the means to survive within the context of their own culture.

Columbus Delano (Sec. of Interior under U.S. Grant), speaking in 1873:

"I would not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western plains, in its effect upon the Indians. I would regard it rather as a means of hastening their sense of dependence upon the products of the soil and their own labors."

General Phillip Henry Sheridan, in 1875:

"(Buffalo hunters) are destroying the Indians' commissary, and it is a well-known fact that an army losing its base of supplies is placed at a great disadvantage. Send them powder and lead, if you will, but for the sake of a lasting peace, let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffaloes are exterminated. Then your prairies can be covered in speckled cattle, and the festive cowboy, who follows the hunter as a second forerunner of advanced civilization."

Today, the buffalo slaughter has been renewed. Some years ago, the 23 wild ones found in Yellowstone National Park had reached a herd size of 3000 and some began to walk out of the park. Immediately, the slaughter began anew.

Please check out the Buffalo Field Campaign's website, which can be found on almost any search engine.

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(I) can recall having seen photographs of vast tracts littered with dead Bison, photo's of the small mountain of bones too.

(I) had thought it was to quell the natives too, the slaughter was not one of commercial intent other than the 'Hunting' (From a train) aspect that was sold as "sport".....

There might have been some commercial uses, but (I) suspect that most of that slaughter was just that 'a slaughter' and an needless one.

Bison aren't an endangered species.

The population is rapidly growing (at over 350,000 animals in North America) and there are at least 4 genetically pure herds. A number of other herds, like the one on Catalina Island, are virtually pure.

Arthur