Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
Hear the Buffalo is a heartfelt plea to preserve the last wild bison roaming Yellowstone National Park, their significance in Native American culture, and the ongoing injustices they experience by attempts to manage populations outside the park in Montana.
A twenty-year old activist blocked the access road to Yellowstone National Park’s Stephens Creek bison trap, preventing more of the last wild bison from being shipped to slaughter. As well, the Montana Supreme Court recently supported efforts to expand bison migratory habitat north of the park in the Gardiner Basin.
“Severe grazing is absolutely essential to maintain biodiversity,” argues Allan Savory in a recent TED Talk. Of course, this is the opposite of scientific truth for the sensitive desert ecosystem. Advocating “holistic grazing,” Mr. Savory pieces together false assumptions to produce ineffective but popular recommendations on climate change.
An Apsáalooke Crow man falls in love and has a child with the magical Buffalo Woman, which requires him to prove his love and devotion to her and her Buffalo Nation.
The supernatural appearance of White Buffalo Calf Woman tells of her divine revelations to the Lakota people regarding the Seven Sacred Rites to bring about spiritual rebirth and world harmony.
The bison slaughter is proposed to appease the intractable and unreasonable demands of Montana’s livestock industry to zero tolerance for native bison on Montana soil. All of this is justified in the name of controlling brucellosis, a disease that can cause domestic livestock to abort their first calf.