Comments on: The Isle Where Buffalo Roam http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/03/the-isle-where-buffalo-roam/ Ideas, innovations and discoveries from the world of science Thu, 23 May 2013 23:31:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: sonny http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/03/the-isle-where-buffalo-roam/comment-page-1/#comment-6450 sonny Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:54:24 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=9151#comment-6450 The bison or buffalo now on Catalina Island have experienced nearly the same result as the race of humans portrayed in the movie they were meant to act as extra's in, " The Vanishing American", back in 1924. Fortunately, for the American Indian and the science community,the Smithsonian preserved our ancestors cadavers in cardboard boxes in a storage building in Battery Park, New York, or we would have totally disappeared from existence, but that is another tragic story. Another recent relevant story , highlights a hunting lodge in Texas that charges $ 14,000 to "hunt" white buffalo on a ranch for the mere trophy value. That is the reality of today. Fast forward back to Catalina Island, and the purported effort by the Catalina Island Conservancy to preserve these magnificent beings. I am an enrolled member of an American Indian tribe of the Plains, and back in 2004, 80 years after they arrived, I was responsible ( with the financial help of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians ) for repatriating 100 of these beings, back to the plains where they originated from. The Morongo people understood what it meant to repatriate them, I understood what it meant, but I have always doubted that the (CIC) Catalina Island Conservancy ever understood the significance of it. These beings originated in the Southern plains and would migrate north kind of in a circle, depending on how the grasses re-generated. They became part of the sustenance of our people for thousands of years, and we depended on them for our existence. We gave thanks to the Creator for them and had ceremonies and directed prayer of thanks to their spirit for providing for us. Along came the occupation of our lands, and in order for the occupiers to steal our lands, they indiscriminately killed the buffalo, in order to deprive us of food, and consequently acquiesce. Again, fast forwarding to the present, I am appalled at the effort to curtail their procreation by experimenting on them with a contraceptive. We ( the American Indian ) have offered to place them on our reservations, but to no avail. Unfortunately, the Catalina Conservancy, under the guise of a caring "conservancy", refuses to let go of the ideology that they are doing a service to these beings, when in truth, they are not only damaging the natural life cycle of the species, and now, are reverting to experimenting and changing their DNA and natural existence, through the use of contraceptives. The other reason they hold them in captivity, is because the local population is enamored with them and use them as a tourist attraction for monetary and economic purposes. The Conservancy, dishes out the boiler plate answer, in order to justify their existence, that , again they are "conservators", and that they have the best interest of the beings at the forefront. They may be able to " buffalo " some people most of the time, but not all the time. If they ( the Conservancy ) really were true to the meaning of what it is to be a conservator, then they would quit using these beings for monetary purposes and repatriate them to their original stewards, the American Indian Nations. Granted, today they would not be free to roam the plains as they once did, through no fault of our own, as the occupiers brought barbed wire and erected fences, but they would be in their natural habitat, feed on as much natural grasses as are left on our reservations, and again, roam the prairies that their ancestors did, and that we have managed to hold on to. Look in any historical manual of the old west, and you will undoubtedly find a picture that speaks a thousand words. That picture shows a stack, thirty feet high, of thousands of bleached skulls of our brother , the buffalo, they were for sale. Buffalo Bill, killed them for sport and money also, just like this present entrepreneur, mentioned in the beginning of this commentary. Today, this tax write-off creation of the Wrigley family, calling itself a "conservancy", has the audacity to want to act as the Creator, and experiment with the natural procreation of this magnificent being. When is enough , enough ? If you cannot sustain them, let the original stewards have them back, but do not use your ego and premise of conservatorship to change or limit what the Creator placed on this Earth. The bison or buffalo now on Catalina Island have experienced nearly the same result as the race of humans portrayed in the movie they were meant to act as extra’s in, ” The Vanishing American”, back in 1924. Fortunately, for the American Indian and the science community,the Smithsonian preserved our ancestors cadavers in cardboard boxes in a storage building in Battery Park, New York, or we would have totally disappeared from existence, but that is another tragic story. Another recent relevant story , highlights a hunting lodge in Texas that charges $ 14,000 to “hunt” white buffalo on a ranch for the mere trophy value. That is the reality of today. Fast forward back to Catalina Island, and the purported effort by the Catalina Island Conservancy to preserve these magnificent beings. I am an enrolled member of an American Indian tribe of the Plains, and back in 2004, 80 years after they arrived, I was responsible ( with the financial help of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians ) for repatriating 100 of these beings, back to the plains where they originated from. The Morongo people understood what it meant to repatriate them, I understood what it meant, but I have always doubted that the (CIC) Catalina Island Conservancy ever understood the significance of it. These beings originated in the Southern plains and would migrate north kind of in a circle, depending on how the grasses re-generated. They became part of the sustenance of our people for thousands of years, and we depended on them for our existence. We gave thanks to the Creator for them and had ceremonies and directed prayer of thanks to their spirit for providing for us. Along came the occupation of our lands, and in order for the occupiers to steal our lands, they indiscriminately killed the buffalo, in order to deprive us of food, and consequently acquiesce. Again, fast forwarding to the present, I am appalled at the effort to curtail their procreation by experimenting on them with a contraceptive.
We ( the American Indian ) have offered to place them on our reservations, but to no avail. Unfortunately, the Catalina Conservancy, under the guise of a caring “conservancy”, refuses to let go of the ideology that they are doing a service to these beings, when in truth, they are not only damaging the natural life cycle of the species, and now, are reverting to experimenting and changing their DNA and natural existence, through the use of contraceptives. The other reason they hold them in captivity, is because the local population is enamored with them and use them as a tourist attraction for monetary and economic purposes. The Conservancy, dishes out the boiler plate answer, in order to justify their existence, that , again they are “conservators”, and that they have the best interest of the beings at the forefront. They may be able to ” buffalo ” some people most of the time, but not all the time. If they ( the Conservancy ) really were true to the meaning of what it is to be a conservator, then they would quit using these beings for monetary purposes and repatriate them to their original stewards, the American Indian Nations. Granted, today they would not be free to roam the plains as they once did, through no fault of our own, as the occupiers brought barbed wire and erected fences, but they would be in their natural habitat, feed on as much natural grasses as are left on our reservations, and again, roam the prairies that their ancestors did, and that we have managed to hold on to. Look in any historical manual of the old west, and you will undoubtedly find a picture that speaks a thousand words. That picture shows a stack, thirty feet high, of thousands of bleached skulls of our brother , the buffalo, they were for sale. Buffalo Bill, killed them for sport and money also, just like this present entrepreneur, mentioned in the beginning of this commentary. Today, this tax write-off creation of the Wrigley family, calling itself a “conservancy”, has the audacity to want to act as the Creator, and experiment with the natural procreation of this magnificent being. When is enough , enough ? If you cannot sustain them, let the original stewards have them back, but do not use your ego and premise of conservatorship to change or limit what the Creator placed on this Earth.

]]> By: BlogDog http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/03/the-isle-where-buffalo-roam/comment-page-1/#comment-6445 BlogDog Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:01:30 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=9151#comment-6445 This approach was tried with donkeys that were brought to Ossabaw Island, GA. The only problem with the "sterlization was that there was one donkey that was already pregnant which, after all the sterilizing was done, gave birth to a fertile Myrtle who managed to keep the procreation of roaming donkeys going. Nature has a way of propagating life. This approach was tried with donkeys that were brought to Ossabaw Island, GA. The only problem with the “sterlization was that there was one donkey that was already pregnant which, after all the sterilizing was done, gave birth to a fertile Myrtle who managed to keep the procreation of roaming donkeys going.

Nature has a way of propagating life.

]]> By: Cassandra Willyard http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/03/the-isle-where-buffalo-roam/comment-page-1/#comment-6444 Cassandra Willyard Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:49:03 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=9151#comment-6444 Hi Robert, The bison aren't the sole reason for the spread of non-native plants on Catalina, of course. But they can pick up non-native seeds in their coats when they brush against non-native plants. The bison move freely around the island, dropping clumps of seed-laden hair wherever they go. Pretty effective dispersal mechanism! See this article: http://www.mendeley.com/research/dispersal-nonnative-plants-introduced-bison-island-ecosystem/ Hi Robert,
The bison aren’t the sole reason for the spread of non-native plants on Catalina, of course. But they can pick up non-native seeds in their coats when they brush against non-native plants. The bison move freely around the island, dropping clumps of seed-laden hair wherever they go. Pretty effective dispersal mechanism! See this article: http://www.mendeley.com/research/dispersal-nonnative-plants-introduced-bison-island-ecosystem/

]]> By: Maggie's Farm http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/03/the-isle-where-buffalo-roam/comment-page-1/#comment-6442 Maggie's Farm Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:25:43 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=9151#comment-6442 <strong>Tuesday morning links...</strong> The Dingo as the Default Dog? How to Tap the Missus Seek and you shall find': Secret message that led to 'lost' Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece hidden behind wall for 400 yearsThe Isle Where Buffalo Roam Topography of religion in the US The Grad-Schoo... Tuesday morning links…

The Dingo as the Default Dog? How to Tap the Missus Seek and you shall find’: Secret message that led to ‘lost’ Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece hidden behind wall for 400 yearsThe Isle Where Buffalo Roam Topography of religion in the US The Grad-Schoo…

]]> By: Robert L Stearns http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/03/the-isle-where-buffalo-roam/comment-page-1/#comment-6441 Robert L Stearns Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:25:21 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/?p=9151#comment-6441 Just curious. The article throws in "The bison and their shaggy coats also helped spread the seeds of non-native plants." I am presuming that the bison born on the island got any non-native seeds the same way the island got them, carried on the winds. So why stick the bison with this additional crime? Just curious. The article throws in “The bison and their shaggy coats also helped spread the seeds of non-native plants.”

I am presuming that the bison born on the island got any non-native seeds the same way the island got them, carried on the winds. So why stick the bison with this additional crime?

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