Not for meat or skins: why did the Americans exterminate all the bison on the continent

Westerns portray America’s development period as a fair fight against the redskins, the brave adventures of cowboys and the search for treasures. Meanwhile, in an unequal battle with the colonialists, not only the majority of the indigenous population fell, but almost all the bison that were brutally exterminated in just a few decades. The colossal volumes of killing animals far exceeded the needs of the newcomer population in meat and skins. What caused this terrible massacre?

Before the advent of the European colonialists, bison were distributed practically throughout North America, excluding tropical forests, lifeless deserts and polar latitudes. At the beginning of the 18th century, the number of bison steppe and forest subspecies, according to various estimates, ranged from 60 to 75 million heads.

The Indian tribes living on the flat territory always hunted these large animals. They used animal meat for food, and their skins were used to make dwellings and clothes. Since the Indians procured bison exclusively to satisfy their needs, the number of artiodactyls remained stable. But with the arrival of Europeans on the continent, the situation has changed.

The alien population began to actively hunt for bison. Large herbivores, whose herds of millions roamed the plains of North America, were easy prey for the colonialists armed with firearms. They were hunted not only for meat, which in large quantities was used to supply the army and the builders of the railways. Skins, wool, tendons, and bison bones, which were exported to Europe, were also valued. In addition, numerous herds of bison were competitors for livestock, and farmers exterminated them without regret.

The position of the bison worsened even after particularly entrepreneurial Indians began to hunt animals to sell hides and meat to the new population. According to historians, by 1800, there were significantly fewer bison, about 30-40 million animals, and about 200 thousand artiodactyls were killed annually for the sake of hides and meat.

But the worst thing for the bison began to happen when the American government decided to drive the entire Native American population on the reservation, depriving them of their basic food and livelihood - the bison. In order to make the life of the Indians intolerable, a real massacre of unfortunate artiodactyls began. From the 1830s to the end of the 19th century, an uncontrolled bison hunt was conducted in the United States. Now they were killed not for the sake of meat or skin, but for the sake of physical extermination and fun. Railway companies even organized special hunting flights, during which passengers could shoot bisons from the windows of cars. On the Great Plains, the corpses of millions of bison lay, and the participants in the slaughter became respected people in American society.

According to contemporaries, in the period from 1870 to 1875 about 2.5 million bison were killed annually, and one of the army generals Philip Sheridan spoke of this:"The bison hunters have done more in the last two years to solve the acute Indian problem than the entire regular army in the past 30 years."

The first attempts to regulate the hunting of bison at the legislative level and prohibit the killing of ungulates for fun were made in 1871. But the proposals of caring Americans were not supported by the US Congress. In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was created, on the territory of which the last of the surviving bison lived. But the hunt was conducted there, too, until in 1894 it was banned in the territory of the national park. Thanks to this, several hundred bison were miraculously preserved in the USA.

The problem of the Indians was largely resolved, and the surviving bison were left alone. To date, there are approximately 30,000 bison living in the wild in North America. About 4000 thousand of them live in the territory of Yellowstone National Park. In addition, cattle farmers raise bison and their crosses with cattle on their farms.