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Throughout time, the buffalo has held great spiritual and practical meaning for Native Americans. Bison remain a symbol of strength and unity and remind Indian tribes of their connection with nature and how their tribes had once lived.
"The buffalo gave us everything we needed. Without it we were nothing. Our tepees were made of his skin. His hide was our bed, our blanket, our winter coat. It was our drum, throbbing through the night, alive, holy... Not the smallest part of it was wasted... His mighty skull, with the pipe leaning against it, was our sacred altar. The name of the greatest of all Sioux was Tatanka Iyotake - Sitting Bull. When you killed off the buffalo you also killed the Indian - the real, natural, 'wild' Indian."
John Fire Lame Deer, Lakota Sioux
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Buffalo skulls, mid-1870s, waiting to be ground into fertilizer |
In the late 19th century, in an effort to control the "savage Indian" and to destroy the food supply, European settlers drove the buffalo to the brink of extinction and confined Native Americans to reservations.
Since the winter of 1996-1997 over 2,000 members of the Yellowstone bison herd have been slaughtered, making the 1990s the bloodiest decade for buffalo since the 1870s.
"These bison do not belong to the Federal Government. It is high time they gave them back to their rightful owners, the Native Americans... Maybe nobody has told the Department of Interior that the Indian Wars are over. Maybe they are still using their old policy of the 1800's to wipe out every last living buffalo."
Gregg J. Bourland, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
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![This is not a wildlife management issue. It is a deeper spiritual issue that connects [tribal nations] to the very fabric of who they are. - Winona LaDuke, Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg](images/quote_lakota1.gif)