Why the US Army tried to exterminate the bison

And then took credit for “saving” them.
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In 1894, a notorious poacher, Ed Howell, was caught in Yellowstone National Park slaughtering bison, which were on the brink of extinction. US Army soldiers patrolling the park brought him into custody, and the story led to the first US federal law protecting wildlife. The soldiers were thought of as heroes for stopping the killer. But it was the US Army who had been responsible for driving bison to near-extinction in the first place.
In the mid-1800s, a cultural belief known as “manifest destiny” dictated that white settlers were the rightful owners of the entire North American continent - even though Native Americans had inhabited the land for centuries. In order to clear that land for white settlers, the US Army engaged in violent scorched-earth tactics against the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains. One big part of that campaign was to eliminate their crucial food source: the bison.
By the end of the 1800s, a combination of commercial and recreational hunting, plus the actions of the US Army, had depleted the bison population to under a thousand, down from tens of millions at the beginning of the century. Around the same time, the US government set aside some of the land once inhabited by the Plains Indians as a national park, and in 1872 Yellowstone was established.
A key mission of Yellowstone was to conserve the land and the animals that roamed there, including the bison. Today, the soldiers that once patrolled the park are celebrated for having “saved” the bison in Yellowstone, obscuring their own violent contribution to the animal’s near-extinction.
Darkroom is a history and photography series that anchors each episode around a single image. Analyzing what the photo shows (or doesn't show) provides context that helps unravel a wider story. Watch previous episodes here: • Vox Darkroom
Sources and further reading:
"The extermination of the American bison," 1887 Smithsonian survey by William T. Hornaday:
repository.si.edu/handle/1008...
"Poaching Pictures," by Alan Braddock:
www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/...
"The frontier army and the destruction of the buffalo," by David T. Smits:
studylib.net/doc/8185838/the-...
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[@DragonballBlack]

Everything in America has a dark nightmarish story as how it became so

[@LuchadorMasque]

Nearly everything in every nation has that. USA is just younger than most and its fresh.

[@vk9273]

So does everything in other countries, you just never heard of them. And unlike western countries, many still keep those events suppressed from the public view.

[@palillo2006]

@@vk9273 unlike other western countries? The United States still suppresses a lot of the negative history and still does. It only comes to light when it is discovered and we have a whistleblower. Currently republicans are trying to hide black history with destroying critical race theory.

[@vk9273]

@@LuchadorMasque Not even that. Many countries have far more horrific things in more recent history, Americans just don't know anything about them because those countries don't advertise it.

[@themessageman2463]

@@palillo2006 you two should fight for dominance

[@GTAVictor9128]

I've heard about the decimation of the American bison, but I always thought it was a result of commercial overpoaching. I never realized it was systematically perpetuated by the US government to subjugate the natives.

[@IamJohnCullen]

"We're from the Federal Government. We're here to help."

[@thenorthcarolinian6796]

@@IamJohnCullen Reagan said that is the 9 scariest words to ever hear. Something like that

[@joshuafisette7255]

Just another part of us history that gets covered up

[@Dak0dy_Gaming_while_Native]

Most things in America are about subjugating the various non-white peoples in America unfortunately.

[@StockyDude]

Really? I was taught about it in high school.

[@JMsoo]

The more I learn about the US history the darker it gets.

[@davisdelp8131]

No country is clean there’s only worse and better

[@Simonb1977]

@Joseph Stolen I can name a few countries: Bhutan, Iceland.

[@s.l.3281]

The absence of these events from our history books is the real problem. As other commenters say, most countries have dark histories, of course, but USA reeeeaaallllyyyyy lies to itself pretending they're the heroes of every story. You don't see that to the same extent in any other country. Except for maybe China and Russia...

[@eekee6034]

@@Simonb1977 The first modern Icelanders defeated, perhaps killed all of, the Irish monks who previously lived on the island. (I'm not quite sure they were Irish, but that's the essence of it.) Other than that, Iceland does seem to have been pretty good to its people, but they were one of the last countries on Earth to give up commercial whaling, continuing to hunt endangered whales all the way into the 1990s.

[@eekee6034]

@@s.l.3281 Growing up in Britain in the 80s was weird. On the one hand, school taught us to be ashamed we ever had an empire, but on the other, there was a lot of Britain's own kind of heroism, the old folk still believed in the white man's burden (or similar), and a lot of the fiction for boys was pretty closely related to the great white hunter theme. Some of the best books dated from the 19th century anyway. On TV, we got all the American Westerns and other white heroism. But yeah, the USA's attitude to the world is something like, "You want to be like us, *don't you?*"

[@axildesigns3685]

A nation that's just 245 years old, have a history this dark, its unbelievable.

[@rudyantohosalim2753]

All nation with strong and long governing mostly have dark history, but U.S. is really sickening one, at least IMO. They really wiped out the native from their homes and taken the continent for themselves.

[@krono5el]

all genocide and it still continues, there are no Real Americans or Bison left.

[@elimarburger1659]

Name one that doesn't

[@vaughnrobbins9771]

All nations have dark histories just like this one. The only difference is American history is highly publicized.

[@adityabhaiya5425]

@@elimarburger1659 bro most nations do not have that much dark things done to natives yet owned by settlers now as America or most of North America was inhabited by tribes which were killed by settlers and if left alive they were discriminated to the day they lived

[@Sarahh923]

Americans aren’t alone in this. The Canadian government had the same policy. Hate has no borders.

[@danielluz1861]

colonialism is a terrible thing. our houses are built on graves.

[@MF_JEWM]

@@danielluz1861 It's sad seeing all the mass graves being dug up even now and knowing there are likely even still more yet to be found

[@The88Cheat]

@@danielluz1861 You say it's bad, but the fact that the British Empire existed allowed them to fight Nazism. Sooo good and bad bro.

[@cipmaster1]

@@The88Cheat And what? If britain hadn't been as powerful nazism wouldn't have existed in the first place, and still soviets did half of the work.

[@Uhsnuh]

Japan too

[@moonbasebroadcasting8447]

manifest destiny is such a beautiful way to say genocide

[@kingfishyiii5338]

@@swanandthegreat literally the first sentence he says is “yep genocide is truly horrible”. Stop putting words in his mouth, though I agree with what you’re saying

[@standardcommenter7274]

@@swanandthegreat stop twisting context

[@elijahgavin6706]

@Benjoleso anybody who isn’t historically illiterate knows this

[@standardcommenter7274]

@Benjoleso he said in his words "if its being used by everybody, that dosent mean its right"

[@omegasage777]

Yep

[@raggazo23]

Why ? Easy ! Remember, Roosevelt said “fewer bisons represent fewer Native AMERICANS” The war wasn’t against bisons, it was against native Americans

[@tuckergary1516]

killing bison was part of the holoceust of native Americans in brief: "Custer had it coming"

[@tallymcdonnells5453]

One thing nobody ever mentions about this is that the map of where the bison herds were in the 1800's directly parallels the dustbowl of the 1900's. I don't thing it's just correlation. In wiping out the bison they killed the manure spreader that kept the grasslands healthy, inadvertantly causing the dustbowl.

[@Lyndanet]

I really think this is a very true observation.

[@danepittman1383]

Good thing they were able to spread enough manure to stop it from happening again.

[@beepbeepboopboop7857]

so true!

[@SharePtless]

One could infer this point from Ken Burns' documentary about the dustbowl. They demonstrated how US agricultural practices brought on the disaster.

[@tj12711]

"The Romans make a desert and call it peace" Imperialism never changes

[@ned4903]

Not the first or last time the US army has tried to exterminate something...

[@Dakappon]

all armies in the world have the same goal right ??

[@yogi6muhammad]

@@Dakappon no

[@cristobalcaro3392]

@@Dakappon many armies from several different countries have done some bad things but none of them justify anything. Anyway, this video is specifically about the US army.

[@ibrahimboiemonyt]

Lol

[@fadli_1577]

@@yogi6muhammad tentara Indonesia juga genosida orang timor leste bro

[@ThirdEyeScribe]

The same thing happened with the Grizzly Bear in California. When the Spanish arrived in Cali, there were so many Grizzlies they seemed to ride around in packs. By the time California became American territory, local politicians encouraged the hunting of these amazing animals to the point that in the early 1900’s sighting a Grizzly was considered extremely rare. William Randolph Hearst paid a professional tracker to find “the last California Grizzly” and he did so in Southern California. They put the poor bear, named Monarch, in a zoo until he died in 1911 and then to make it worse, they stuffed him and put him on display. The actual final Grizzly shot happened in Fresno in 1922. The last sighting of a Grizzly was in Sequioa National Park a few years later and by 1930 was declared 100% extinct.

[@briandietrich1373]

Wow.... Never knew this...

[@urikayan2368]

How can be it extinct when it's still around all over in Montana?

[@AsiaMinor12]

@@urikayan2368 the California grizzly is extinct, not the American grizzly. The Cali Grizzly also lived in Mexico.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

@@urikayan2368 It is not seen all over Montana. Just a few are left there in a very small area of the Bitterroot range. The rest of Montana is nothing but endless short grass prairie with nothing but houses and poor folks.

[@deadpool6072]

@@urikayan2368 you could use the word extinct to also describe a species that used to be on that location but is now gone. It is called local extinction.

[@VitaInDC]

This should be included in American History in high school and college.

[@jacobhoffie7546]

Y would they yk its not “important “ to them

[@ashak.v9027]

They almost drew Bison to extinction, but they did completely drive the passenger pigeon to extinction

[@vaughnreedjr6592]

Passage pigeon.

[@selohcin]

The US government exterminated the messenger pigeons?? How? And why?

[@Fatahilmazelan]

@@selohcin food

[@Trgn]

Bison is virtually extinct, only a few herds left.

[@Amy_Dunn]

@@selohcin not messanger pigeons, Passenger Pigeons. They were a species of wild pigeon that existed during the same period as the American Bison in this video. It was hunted to extinction for 2 reasons: 1. People thought they were super delicious 2. They were perceived as a pest and a threat to agriculture.

[@dionysus7653]

You get a trophy in Red Dead Redemption called "Manifest Destiny" for killing the last buffalo in the game. No more spawn afterwards.

[@glhfggwp6232]

Attention to detail, that’s not a trophy to be proud of

[@nirreznik8567]

That's quite messed up.

[@jacklyons8604]

@@glhfggwp6232 it's just a game

[@peoplefullofshit7549]

Fuked up

[@nebulousisgod]

It’s a nod to a historical reality, it in no way glorifies wiping out animals. It’s a trophy that happens to come up, there’s nothing telling you it exists until you do it.

[@frybreadking351]

The buffalo are a beautiful and amazing animal. I used to work at the buffalo pasture on my reservation, I loved it. Look after and care for something that was an instrumental part of my ancestors survival and way of life 💯🦬

[@HumphreyAlphaandOmega]

why do people call *BISON* buffalo?

[@PraveenKumar-gu4cu]

My heart goes out with the native people. This is heartbreaking 💔

[@mohammedrehan7491]

Today in 2024 Native Americans are around only 1% according to 2020 Research.

[@wrestlinginfodude2644]

They are still almost 10 million still there and it's growing, hopefully they keep growing and get back to their previous colonial numbers ultimately

[@lucydropsopinion5348]

I actually learned while visiting Mt. Rushmore while I was young that Native Americans would use Buffalo bladders as early age water bottles due to their ability to trap liquids so well. Just goes to show how useful the Buffalo was to their culture, they found a use for every part of it.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

It's not just the Buffalo, it is almost every animal is useful in the same way. My ancestors built bows from the parts of the cattle, deer and fish. And those bows were high tech back in the day.

[@Isaactorres60]

Nature balances itself

[@tabasco260]

Disgusting

[@FinancialShinanigan]

Attacking your enemy's food and cutural source, sounds about right.

[@eatathepizza4449]

Strategy babe

[@teebolt45]

and provide them shelter and appeared as an angel of light

[@benignovelasco3770]

@@teebolt45 that kinda worked though

[@teardataco8913]

@A A uhh Israel just replied to hamas's rockets.. if anything this is what hamas is currently doing because every conflict starts with them attacking

[@elijahgavin6706]

@@teardataco8913 didn’t Israel break the cease fire? Such a lie. Hamas’ leader even said they would stop if the Palestinian people were treated equally

[@nickinportland]

I imagine trying to explain what a national park was to folks out near Yellowstone at the time was a difficult task.

[@danielglassmeyer1381]

I've often wondered how much influence the local and state government had on the material used in the education system I went to public grade school in. How much was knowingly manipulated into a favorable perspective of Manifest Destiny and where the line was, knowingly again, drawn on teaching us about the brutal oppression of Native Americans and their wildlife resources. I was raised in rural northern Idaho.

[@jswi2374]

Textbooks are written with the New York, Texas, and California school system markets in mind. To be commercially viable, a textbook has to be approved by those three states. Unless you lived in one of those three states, your local and state governments had very little influence on the content of your textbooks.

[@zavier3169]

"a sport that was peculiarly amarican" Yup that checks out

[@danepotmo2513]

No it doesn't. The European Bison were nearly hunted to complete extinction (and were hunted to essentially extinction in the wild) at precisely the same time.

[@rj-mu7ns]

@@danepotmo2513 well guess what white american people are.

[@michaeld4326]

@@rj-mu7ns White? And you're prejudiced against them?

[@rj-mu7ns]

@@michaeld4326 nope- I'm just saying Europeans and Americans during that time weren't too different

[@radagast1184]

@@rj-mu7ns Yes, they were different. Just like Americans and Europeans today are different.

[@alek.c]

That skull mountain must be one of the most terrifying pictures I've ever seen.

[@TheShoottheradio]

I have to agree it's one of the most surreal pictures I've ever seen in my life. The first time you see it it's almost too much to comprehend.

[@Daniel-vi7fw]

Describing that picture as terrifying is an understatement, however it is a famous picture that you can look up the details on. It is completely used out of context in a deceptive way by this documentary. First off its taken outside Detroit Michigan where they, along with domesticated cattle skulls from all over the country were sent to be ground up for making fertilizer. Not some sinister government plan to impoverish Native Americans...

[@squeezy1001]

@@Daniel-vi7fw Just Shush okay. 🤫

[@harrishromero6447]

Wait a second something isn't right why bison is so short back then look a horse is bigger than bison

[@justprimo2]

@@squeezy1001 don't like the truth

[@pinamango5413]

I hate it that the government just doesn’t admit to it’s wrong doing

[@LiTTleGaBi21]

The same happened in Canada before they were reintroduced. You’d have trains full of skulls and bones from bisons to sell or make stuff for tourist from the UK and elsewhere

[@Simon-tc1mc]

This is heartbreaking. Shows just how deep the genocide went.

[@dhyeyapatel8688]

The same applies for Canada too. A majority of First Nation Reserves in Canada still don't have access to clean drinking water. For years, the Canadian Government promises to build water treatment plants on these lands but nothing so far.

[@OctoRang]

How is this genocide

[@computertable3746]

@@OctoRang look up the definition

[@saulbarquero8879]

@@OctoRang Starving and destroying people's source of food IS genocide.

[@Simon-tc1mc]

@@OctoRang well it's first clearly obvious when they show the maps of how Bison went from having 60 million and living all over most the continent, to being nearly extinct. That's a Bison genocide. Then, they talked about how the Bison were crucial to these indigenous communities, for food and supplies. Forcibly removing food and supplies is genocide. Also, if you look into the stats, Native American population in the area of the US declined over 90% from 1600 to 1900. While white population on this continent has flourished for many many generations, indigenous population has only very recently started to finally grow again, and that is from a very low number of the few survivors of the conquest of white colonists.

[@zwebb7327]

For the Sioux and Cheyenne, the buffalo was the primary animal in their religious mythology. So on top of everything else it took away from their spiritual well being

[@NotShowingOff]

Also, it was nice that they could control those native populations by controlling the bison.

[@ggoddkkiller1342]

Forced assimilation?? Subjugating people?? The disappearance of native people?? Im really sad Vox still can't say what it was really, NATIVE AMERICAN GENOCIDE!! I guess many centuries have to pass and Native American population to decrease even more until US finally recognizes it...

[@bresams2917]

Just Wow, unbelievable and Evil

[@Muhammad-sx7wr]

It seems that Western powers do this, to this day cultivating wars and third world countries in order to heard and pen in the people of those countries into IDP camps and the like. Further using national parks and protected areas in order to put pressures on those populations from growing back up again.

[@somedayitsgonnamakesense]

then Jesus train arrives and introduced to the one true God. a jealous incompetent god

[@problematic_fav]

this needs to be taught in all grades of school….

[@hotepsalam]

I thought it was in America? Wow You’d think this was common knowledge

[@mr.g3203]

Rule Britannia and her children long live the Anglo-Saxons💪🏻🇬🇧🇳🇿🇮🇱🇨🇦🇭🇲🇿🇦🇺🇲😉 and mother and grandmother🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@maxpainmedia]

@@mr.g3203 too bad the china man rules the world, and minorities are taking overrr

[@dhavaldesai6202]

One thing that people say that natives were at war each other all time .natives did not killed entire tribes by mass murder the colonizers did that there is difference between war between tribes and systematic genocide of a race or culture

[@Johnny2by4Mgo]

That one mission in Red Dead 2 with Charles angry about the dead bison makes more sense now.

[@houseoftoussaint9609]

“I don’t doubt you saw things, Bill, but your tiny little mind was too small to comprehend what you saw! What you saw, was people who lost everything to savagery! The savagery of peasants. Failures come from Europe to reap some awful vengeance on God’s last creation!” - Dutch van der Linde Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Games

[@shockandawe03]

I enjoyed killing those poachers in that mission

[@bagakilo]

Yh lol

[@rubylavinia991]

rdr2 is where i learnt about this

[@nebulousisgod]

That game is a beautiful nod to American reality in the 1800s.

[@karlheinzamigable5770]

"Sports that is peculiarly American" Now thats America

[@NL-tq1yr]

You know what definitely is not american? European immigrants in America aka " americans".

[@oswaldmosley4315]

@@NL-tq1yr yeah they are becuase natives lost and there land belongs to the white man now 🤷‍♂️

[@whathell6t]

@@oswaldmosley4315 Even then, there’s still ethnic tensions within white Americans. Anglo-Saxons still discriminating Irish, Siciliano/Neapolitan/Southern Italians, Slavics from the Balkans, Caucasians from the Caucuses Mountains, etc.

[@ZynzeNycraile]

sports on middle east

[@christianchristiansen1471]

More like gringos true americans dont't du that

[@crazydolce1]

god so saad that people STILL DONT KNOW about the extent of Indigenous genocide...

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

It’s easier to list what they didn’t try to exterminate.

[@wilfordshiell9367]

They didn't realize the bison made the prairy with thier poop and so twenty years later it all dries up and blows away and all they get is a Dust Bowl.

[@AmphiStuG]

As horrifying as that revelation is, I got a chuckle out of the wording of this. thank you for upping my mood.

[@paulcooper8818]

The sad part is, there are plenty of Americans who will approve similar strategies today.

[@user-jl9cg2im5q]

They are approving those strategies all around the world today... so they have to think why most of the world hate them so much.

[@muhammadaiman6713]

not surprising. look at israel

[@lozzoe]

Look at how they are trying to starve Cuba and morph them into a capitalistic society. The United States of America will do whatever it takes to maintain perfect control over most of the world, and it's sickening.

[@The88Cheat]

It's a legit strategy. Why do you think supply lines are major targets of every war?

[@user-jl9cg2im5q]

@@The88Cheat genocide is not war.

[@AndrewPonti]

I waffled between intense sadness and immense rage while watching this. Yet another stain on our American past. I'm sure many western states wouldn't want to teach this in schools as they'd say it was like "critical race theory".

[@kthevsamig4958]

No it’s not another stain

[@Zodroo_Tint]

Be more real!

[@krono5el]

euro-american past, those were not Natives doing the genocide.

[@tieganwolf5276]

those poor bison :(

[@kenster8270]

Reminds me of scorched earth warfare. Imagine the cynicism of just letting all that meat go to waste and being left to rot, while at the same time Natives were dieing from starvation and malnutrition on the squalid reservations that they were prevented from leaving without the written permission of their assigned Indian Agent who was supposed to feed and clothe them.

[@tankvinl9805]

Its almost like the us military wasent trying to genocide the bision and it was just the high demand for it, Its almost like in this video the used 1 general saying that the goverment should be doing this as a proof that its THE US GOVERMENT holy sh8t i swear libreals are literally trying to end america and i dont know why, dont you remeber ape strong toghther

[@iammonke9203]

@@tankvinl9805 "High Demand" the species was almost driven to extinction, Even if what you said was true, then that would still mean that the US nearly wiped out a species due to greed. No matter what way you put it, the US still always seems to be in the wrong. But blame it on liberals I guess?

[@tankvinl9805]

@@iammonke9203 China is the highest contributor to global warming, by your standards we should blame china for global warming, Or is it only ok when its trashing US? US dident nearly wipe out the spicies that like blaming usa and all these other country for china fisherman destorying the sea bottom and overfishing it make no sense but yet again with the anti US that everyone just love Now when i said liberals i meant why in the video would they use 1 general saying the goverment should do something as fact that the goverment is doing it?

[@SomeInfamousGuy]

@@thomashahn2962 America deserved September the eleventh.

[@joskalnunez381]

@@SomeInfamousGuy wow, America is truly torn apart rn

[@KyaniMosaic_Crone]

As the daughter of a full blooded Seneca/Nanticoke Native, I want to thank you for bringing awareness to not only this issue but others our people faced & still do to this day. This actually ties in perfectly with the current issue of the wolves of Yellowstone & the Nez Perce Tribe. I sponsored 2 of the 1st wolves released back into Yellowstone, Wahoots & his sister. In the process of us saving these wolves the wolves on turn saved Yellowstone. Now, due to the changes in Idaho that were JUST implemented yesterday over 50 wildlife conservation groups are urging the Government to place them back on the endangered species list. Ranchers can't rightly claim our wolves are the reason behind their cattle losses when wolves are only responsible for LESS THAN 1%. It's ludacris.

[@alioramus1637]

If you sir or madam have kids please teach them their native language. Make sure they never forget where they came from, who and what they are.

[@pgp]

The cruelty of humans have no bounds

[@S.L.1211]

Read the book: “Empire of the Summer Moon” - a fantastic book (and Pulitzer price nominee) on this vary issue and highlights the Camanche Native American tribe’s conflict with the whites. Deep stuff. Brutal times

[@traplover6357]

American Government: Creating a problem to be credited the hero in proposing a solution.

[@VulpeculaJoy]

This almost perfectly describes the US involvement in the middle east.

[@Miguelforeals]

Sounds real familiar doesn't it ... *cough covid cough*

[@alexthelizardking]

The Littlefinger method.

[@211teitake]

The mountain of skulls @4:08 is horrifying.

[@MiloCarrete]

They never change.

[@soundreamerbg]

Replace "bison" with "the environment" and fast forward to this century.

[@MrAllstar]

Imagine the slaughter to reduce such an enormous amount of Bison to so few. It makes me remember that romanticizing any period in history is typically foolish, humankind has been barbaric from time immemorial till the present day.

[@titandagodd9007]

Barbaric since Cain killed Abel.

[@Dinnyeify]

I don't think labeling the entire human race as barbaric is fair, but it's true that whenever and wherever you go, you can find horrible stuff

[@theentiretyofhumanity8679]

@mriinal deb that's not fair either

[@CO0000]

@@theentiretyofhumanity8679 it is fair survival of the fittest by any means necessary

[@theentiretyofhumanity8679]

@@CO0000 what

[@Lethgar_Smith]

As a child of the 70s I can attest to being taught this in elementary school. In fact it came up several times and various formats. It was never actually stated that it was the intent to exterminate the species but it was clear from the lessons that it was an attempt to wipe out the native population by removing one of their primary food source. This stemmed from the focus on the environment that began in the early 70's. Conservation and pollution were the new buzz words and with that came the realization that industrialization was destroying the environment. The buffalo were nearly extinct at that time and it was common to point out their demise as a stark example of how Man can be destructive to the environment. That's why we learned about the government destroying the buffalo.

[@RockyRMR]

Facts.

[@jacqueslee2592]

They teach Americans Pocahantas, but never the reality of what happened because White parents are Christians and say that teaching real history to Americans is "radical wokeness". When you teach fiction to newer generations each generation, that fiction because truth and truth becomes repressed.

[@James-kv6kb]

Surely you could have said exactly the same thing in two sentences

[@Lethgar_Smith]

@@James-kv6kb Yes but Im a writer, so there ya go...

[@darthashpie3370]

The same happend in India during the British Colonization , They hunted Tigers to almost extinction

[@zeltzintlachinolli2806]

I will forever feel the pain of this world

[@brounwynsmith848]

Until we leave it

[@pelawren]

Vox, please consider doing a part 2 to this video - on how the extermination of the bison population laid the groundwork for the Dust Bowl

[@hameley12]

That's a great idea! I hope the Vox team sees your comment. Have a good day! 😀 @Vox

[@The88Cheat]

I actually appreciate someone that can see how the threads of history are connected.

[@cosmicmuffin322]

Yes!

[@eekee6034]

Did it? The Dust Bowl was fixed by contour farming, wasn't it?

[@Shadowtiger2564]

They should do one on wolves too because the US government did the same thing to wolves, mostly for ranchers

[@JO-iv7tl]

This is an eerie feeling. To know that the stories I heard from my elders were true.

[@joesphreed827]

They did the same thing to us as they did the buffalo killed off most and controlled the rest I'm just grateful some of our ancestors made it through it and kept the native people alive

[@robertskolimowski7049]

Wow, so well produced and needed, thanks a lot Vox👏

[@mj23j3tt]

Incredible video. I tried to show this to my students in science class but it was blocked through the district for some reason. Very sad.

[@silencedowell1722]

This video ultimately depicts how cruel the U.S. Government was not only to the Magestic Bison but also the Native Americans!!! Makes me SICK!!!

[@JD-ii5wr]

That's how almost all countries came to be not just America

[@JD-ii5wr]

@Focused Life Yes because no other race has been at war with another only white people.

[@iammonke9203]

@Focused Life don't race bait. It's not cool.

[@ggoddkkiller1342]

Forced assimilation?? Subjugating people?? The disappearance of native people?? Im really sad Vox still can't say what it was really, NATIVE AMERICAN GENOCIDE!! I guess many centuries have to pass and Native American population to decrease even more until US finally recognizes it...

[@CO0000]

Same deal Mexico & other Latin countries

[@silentvoiceinthedark5665]

The concept of agent orange in Vietnam was born out of the idea that if you destroy the enemy's source of food you can starve them to death. It was directly related to the bison elimination program.

[@tankvinl9805]

Its almost like the us military wasent trying to genocide the bision and it was just the high demand for it, Its almost like in this video they used 1 general saying that the goverment should be doing this as a proof that its THE US GOVERMENT holy sh8t i swear libreals are literally trying to end america and i dont know why, dont you remeber ape strong together I CANT

[@krono5el]

the germans were inspired by the europeans genocide of the Americans and the their Bison.

[@James-kv6kb]

Yes that's what happens when you have the most useless military of the Earth they have to do things like that. And of course no American seems to know that it was Australia's war which we were winning until the Americans turned up.

[@mysterioanonymous3206]

No, they were trying to uncover the supply routes of the vietcong by destroying the leaf cover...

[@mai.vancon]

I learned a bit about this at university, specifically that photo and how national parks barred native americans from hunting and restricted their access traditional hunting grounds.

[@LOLO-jj2by]

Justice coming and it will not be long.

[@kiuk_kiks]

They succeeded in extirpating the American bison which fed the plains Amerindians for *millenia*. Not centuries since they migrated into America >15K years ago.

[@janbatista9832]

Bison is coming back

[@kiuk_kiks]

@@janbatista9832 After a genetic bottleneck, their genetic diversity is little.

[@janbatista9832]

@@kiuk_kiks 500,000 bison exist today, that’s not little generic diversity

[@kiuk_kiks]

@@janbatista9832 A tiny minority in North America and Eurasia are wild and free. A lot of bison are intermixed with domesticated cattle too.

[@purplestripes4076]

@@janbatista9832 Don't think you get it. If most humans are killed today and there are a few hundred left. And they reproduced among themselves, there are significantly fewer genes going around than before. So they're more susceptible to diseases and don't have much genetic variation.

[@peterribolli8300]

"Let's live in peace, we have enough buffalo to feed the world" Sitting Bull. The rest is history.

[@Vax558]

The bison were over hunted because thier hides were sold for a good price which in turn were made for belts? The rest of the body was left their to rot, good thing we had people who protected that last 500 of them

[@Coconutthefirst]

4:00 bro you understood that hand writing!? That’s like a doctors hand writing or worse

[@Huy-G-Le]

Till these day, there are still, many American, who deny this atrocities ever happen. There are even more people, who support mining company breaching into Native's nation land, which those Native zone themselves aren't even well care for by the United States government. People go missing, many native people's ethnic got reclassify to Asian, Latino and Mexican.

[@tankvinl9805]

Its almost like the us military wasent trying to genocide the bision and it was just the high demand for it, Its almost like in this video they used 1 general saying that the goverment should be doing this as a proof that its THE US GOVERMENT holy sh8t i swear libreals are literally trying to end america and i dont know why, dont you remeber ape strong together.v

[@chaddy9303]

Yeah cause want can a normal American do? As “many American” you mean the government? Cause this was decades ago- you obviously never been to america since the normal American doesn’t have power.

[@Huy-G-Le]

lot still consider Columbus as a good man

[@tornglory5709]

Lol you can't reclassify an ethnic group what are you talking about

[@hhhhippo]

Read 'A Fate Worse than Death' by Gregory and Susan Michno if you want the real story of how Natives treated the Settlers.

[@ultrasonicradiation]

Genocide is genocide regardless of flowery vocabulary.

[@gauravjha8938]

The world has enough for everyone's needs but not everyone's greed ...

[@tinabonnemann2971]

This is really well put together. And the wars that were before and thrived to this day.

[@crazyewok8742]

I already knew a lot of this and I’m glad for the reminder and also I’m glad that my teachers taught us so much about native Americans because it seems like a lot of US students don’t learn as much as me and my classmates got to learn so thank vox for helping more people learn about this

[@tankvinl9805]

Its almost like the us military wasent trying to genocide the bision and it was just the high demand for it, Its almost like in this video they used 1 general saying that the goverment should be doing this as a proof that its THE US GOVERMENT holy sh8t i swear libreals are literally trying to end america and i dont know why, dont you remeber ape strong together d

[@danielglassmeyer1381]

I've often wondered how much influence the local and state government had on the material used in the education system I went to public grade school in. How much was knowingly manipulated into a favorable perspective of Manifest Destiny and where the line was, knowingly again, drawn on teaching us about the brutal oppression of Native Americans and their wildlife resources. I was raised in rural northern Idaho.

[@crazyewok8742]

@@danielglassmeyer1381 state government usually funds and setups education standards and then there’s different school districts that also set standards and assign more specific stuff to each school district

[@edyann]

Poor animals. All the brutality that they have had to endure.

[@edyann]

@@lesgibson969 I know, sweet. I just commented on your thread. So lovely to meet a fellow vegan. 🕊

[@miguelmiguelbcostasantos7897]

like animals today being hunted and farmed

[@lesgibson969]

@@Vii905 I'm going to spread my vegan ideas everywhere because animal abuse is wrong

[@nebras__]

USA USA USA USA "CROWAD CHANTS*

[@edyann]

@@lesgibson969 And this is a public video on a public comment thread and a video about the brutality of animals which is ON TOPIC so yes, sweet. Keep on spreading the vegan message and so proud of you!

[@giraffeman326]

“I missed the part where that’s my problem” - Bully Maguire

[@ninthefrog3911]

They did everything they could to take the resources that Indigenous peoples needed to survive.

[@Mojabi_ghost]

It amazes me how creative the U.S. likes to gets with its straight up racism. I’ll never understand how cruel people can be to others especially when they’re committing literal genocide. There will never be a justifiable reason to do this.🧡

[@tornglory5709]

You talk like this happened last year

[@unclelumbago9292]

This was a 127 years ago (When the picture was tacken

[@Mojabi_ghost]

@@tornglory5709 It doesn’t matter how long ago it was. These are human beings regardless, don’t try to belittle genocide. Believing otherwise is an extremely dangerous way of thinking.

[@tornglory5709]

@@Mojabi_ghost Bruh you missed my point entirely.

[@unclelumbago9292]

@@Mojabi_ghost So every country has committed genocide at one point or another the country you live probably has committed genocide at one point or another

[@noziphotshabalala5018]

And then say they’re “civilising” the world

[@mysterious7215]

Civilising to destruction

[@samuelzapote]

thats not even a proper sentence, no one past primary school says that..

[@noziphotshabalala5018]

@@samuelzapote I speak more than 8 languages lol, English isn’t my home language. You got my point and I said what I said. You don’t have an argument so worrying about grammar even when it’s irrelevant is all your brain could come up with.

[@bnervez]

@@noziphotshabalala5018 well spoken brother

[@El_Santo_De_Cerote]

@@mysterious7215 every other race has gone to war for land. White people just happen to be really good at it.

[@retf054ewte3]

broke my heart. buffalo population from 30 million to 1000 !!

[@jbmp1390]

"Manifest Destiny! It feels like it's MINE!"- Maria Bamford

[@akbarali-fh4rb]

And yet "Columbus discovered America. "

[@liberalbias4462]

He did

[@L6197C]

"Overwriting their role in its destruction in the first place and romantisizing it" - Ain't that America in a nutshell.

[@durkeldwakanda1778]

I love America here in zambia africa I am lucky to see a wild animal. Going to Pennsylvania last spring I was amazed at all the wild life that I could see looking out the back window into the bush (woods). I can't wait to go back to america but this time I will stay away from Philadelphia those young black boys were not very nice to me or my family. Told me to speak better English and go back to zululand.

[@mikeaskme3530]

@D'Erkel D' Wakanda, you are a freaking liar,.

[@novaprimesguidetothemultiv7091]

This is the most horrifying kind of heros syndrome I've ever seen.

[@PsychicSploob]

We enslaved them when we destroyed their ability to feed their families. That's more Orwellian than I ever would have guessed.

[@a.ros12]

Show this to your kids, accompanied by other sources of info that tell the entire history (Encyclopedia). Don't let these schools get away with lying to your children by omission, be sure to tell them the whole story.

[@nicklausb]

Why do I watch videos like this?! I'm tired of crying to myself over the evil that these people have done/do.

[@captainmoretokin2172]

They wont ever talk about this in history class at school.

[@rayanmuhammed6633]

And we have the US lecturing the world on democracy and freedom and human rights 😅 what a joke..

[@specialingu]

the lofty ideals are noble, and good. other stuff is bad :/

[@tornglory5709]

This was 200 years ago????

[@jonathantan7094]

Indeed

[@Bas_Lightyear]

@@tornglory5709 exactly! Not long ago at all considering how long humans have been around, or how old the oldest civilisations are. Definitely not something to be swept under the rug or forgotten about because it was “before our time” or “happened so long ago”. That’s what you meant right?

[@tornglory5709]

@@Bas_Lightyear I'm saying he shouldn't be blaming the people now for problems that happened 200 years ago

[@G.P.Telemann4261]

Now I get that one mission in rdr2 where you track down the bison killers with Charles..... this game is so fckn realistic

[@GTAVictor9128]

Even in RDR1, bison numbers were limited and never respawned, and there was an achievement called Manifest Destiny for killing all the bison in the game.

[@Prospektism]

Yeah i rememberrr...

[@quincyquincy4764]

@@GTAVictor9128 Wauw!

[@user-xs8uy2cg9p]

@@GTAVictor9128 wow thats so cool

[@ricr.4669]

First they say to keep them from trains.

[@Henkkaassouffle]

So basically the media back than also needed fact checking.

[@zywoomeister3654]

For decades they have been exterminating innocent humans, bisons won’t be any issue for them.

[@AmphiStuG]

Not only that but indirectly making peoples lives miserable the world over with how much they meddle in other nation's buisness.

[@mouseking9812]

that is how you conquer? Nothing new to humans sadly, but what do you mean "they"?

[@holahovito11]

America the land of the free.... Except if you're Black, Native American or a Bison

[@god-0f-war]

or just non-White.

[@jamesmadison7551]

old days, no longer today.

[@michaeld4326]

Well judging from the political climate today and 90% of the comments of this video, ya'll just hate white people. And that's despite probably never even having had a bad interaction with one I'd imagine. You can just say it you know? You don't have to hide behind your faux scapegoat of "all white people are evil for this or that"

[@michaeld4326]

And if you really don't want to be here then just leave lol. Make some space or the millions of Immigrants that are trying to come here. It's not like America is the #1 immigrated country and has been for a very long time or anything. It's not like you're just soft and ungrateful with no real problems or wars to worry about that third world countries do so you create fabricated racial tension in your own head, right?

[@EJ-bq1nu]

@@michaeld4326 I wish you could just take your buildings and weapons and go back to Europe...stop killing the Earth please.

[@Zamyplays]

Imagine being a bison back in the 1880s you won’t even survive by the age of 5

[@MiguelLopez-kg3sd]

Thank you so much for saying the truth that we all know but no one wants to talk about thank you again

[@ianosf]

What they do is appalling! Yet they call others terrorist

[@LuchadorMasque]

This was like 200 years ago

[@palillo2006]

@@LuchadorMasque so

[@Chadniger]

They inherited this hypocrisy and double standard from Europeans

[@radagast1184]

@@palillo2006 So it was 200 years ago. Your country probably did bad things in the past 200 years too.

[@quincyquincy4764]

@@LuchadorMasque The U.S is still doing it just in other countries like the middle east

[@weston.hennings]

Vox should do a video on the most destroyed ecosystem and landscape in the entire world; the 99.9% desecrated and extinct prairielands of Iowa. And the entire great plains for that matter.

[@hughmungus5686]

I live in Iowa, trust me it’s all just field and pasture now, no more plains. Just farms and cows and pigs.

[@AmphiStuG]

@@hughmungus5686 At least it does something useful unlike lawns.

[@Aedony]

I'd love to see a video about that too!

[@rubylavinia991]

i learnt about this from that one rdr2 mission

[@juggernautmjae3970]

Buffalo soldiers. Bob Marley sang about them

[@leobelcolona4721]

"a sport that is peculiarly American" - yep shooting peacefully living things.

[@chaddy9303]

Huh- stereotype u got from TikTok?

[@r3trobananas33]

Woo! i cant wait to get get a gun and nail a deer just because i can! love being able to do what i want

[@definitelynotafamousyoutub6131]

@@chaddy9303 well is there any other country where you see school shooting in the headlines after every 3-4 months ?

[@infinityxtanishq8712]

@@definitelynotafamousyoutub6131 3-4 months? Bro they do that every month

[@duskthunder9274]

@@definitelynotafamousyoutub6131 where do you live

[@blakereid5785]

The extermination of the bison also destroyed the plains themselves. They were a cornerstone species. The water table and the fertility totally relied on them. Those golden waves of grain had bison to thank for the soil fertility. Bison a beavers made North America the abundant fertile land that it was….so of course they were the first to go.

[@ela5746]

I learnt about this in school in Australia. Bizarre to know this is new to some Americans.

[@mesomemore97]

Buffalo Road. Wichita Falls Texas. I was fascinated by this story as a young boy growing up in North Central Texas. Circa early 1970's. There was a pasture not far from my childhood home. It had some bison 🦬 in it. I used to ride my bike there and sit and stare at them from the road. Good way to grow up.

[@jacobjackson5607]

Visiting some family in Utah. Got to see a heard of Bison! Didn’t even know this.

[@aethproxima421]

U probably saw a couple hundred of them. Imagine seeing 60 million of them stretching from the horizon.

[@rumbling3991]

@@aethproxima421 a stampede

[@AmericanWRITER09]

Bring the bison back! They were beneficial for the environment.

[@sophiawilson8696]

They same with the Elephants in Africa.

[@iammonke9203]

@@sophiawilson8696 Same with Mammoth's. All hunted by the invasive species called humans.

[@vamshi4935]

What about Australian wars on animals 😂

[@unclelumbago9292]

@@sophiawilson8696 there are 400,000 elephants in the wild they’re doing ok for rn

[@chiquita683]

Love to see how America saved these wonderful animals. Beautiful story

[@Lucky14970]

4:07 holy cow..... That picture is mental!