How the largest animal massacre in history changed America forever
The story of the American bison and the one man at the center of it all.
By Dan Fletcher
Hello! I’m sorry for the radio silence on the newsletter for a while, but we’ve been really focused on our Park Vibes YouTube channel, which has grown to more than 17,000 subscribers. We’re releasing a new documentary about our public lands, wildlife and national parks every two weeks or so, and they’ve been fascinating (and time consuming!) to put together.
And while I’ve refrained from sharing ALL of them with you who subscribed to FUZZ, I thought I’d call out our latest on the fall and recovery of the American bison.
It hits on a lot of themes we come across time and again in animal conservation — wanton destruction before we realize what we’ve done, and then a slow and painstaking path back to recovery. But we focused on a few very unique herds in the piece — one right off Colorado’s busiest interstate that are the direct descendants of the few wild bison that survived the massacre, and another making their home in the shadow of what used to be a chemical weapons factory.
We also look at William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, who made his fortune and fame as a bison hunter and then late in life, started to recognize the harm he had done.
I hope you’ll check it out, and let me know other videos you’d like to see us tackle. Wishing all of you happy holidays and a great end to the year.