Not since the 1800s, when tens of millions of American buffalo roamed the Great Plains, has this species been slaughtered in such large numbers as they are today. The last free-ranging population of wild buffalo (or bison) in the U.S. lives around Yellowstone National Park, and now there are only about 3,000 of them, down from over 4,700 just last year.

The driving force behind their extermination is the beef industry. Ranchers who rent public lands from the government to graze their cattle on have convinced federal and state agencies that they need to kill the buffalo in order to protect herds from a disease known as brucellosis, which is not even known to be transmissible between the species. The real reason the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies massacre the buffalo is so they won't eat the grass intended for beef cattle.

Taxpayers have spent more than $16 million since 2002 on the interagency bison management plan, which mainly consists of hazing and killing the animals to protect beef industry profits. There has been an ongoing grassroots resistance to the slaughter ever since it began, and members of Congress have responded by commissioning the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to provide a report on the buffalo management plan, which was released this month.

In their report, the GAO concluded that "...the agencies lack accountability among themselves and to the public." The GAO report also stated that "The interagency buffalo management plan does not have clearly defined, measurable objectives, and the partner agencies share no common view of the objectives." Meanwhile, as the agencies flounder in mismanagement and incompetence, the buffalo continue to die. 

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Call Pipe, is among the many who want the buffalo to be respected. He will be holding a ceremony to "release the buffalo spirits" on Tuesday, April 15th at Yellowstone. "These Buffalo that lost their lives in Yellowstone did not die by natural law," said the Chief, "nor were their spirits honored with ceremony." For information on attending the ceremony, visit www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.

Please Take Action to urge your federal lawmakers to take proactive measures to stop the slaughter of America's last free-ranging wild buffalo.