Bison may be the national animal of the United States, but they are being slaughtered in their thousands – all due to a myth. When it became a popular belief that brucellosis in livestock was caused by wild buffalo infecting cattle, people began killing them as the solution. Yet despite the low risk of transmission, officials continued the slaughter and harassment of buffalo. Today, Mike Mease is on a mission to change this harmful narrative and protect the last wild buffalo in America.
Buffalo have historically roamed North America, Canada and Mexico, but are now constricted to the Yellowstone National Park, referred to as the ‘bison reservation’. Mease has been striving to conserve wild buffalo since 1997 when he co-founded the Buffalo Field Campaign with Rosalie Little Thunder. “The purpose of this organisation is to create permanent change and protection for these beautiful buffalo,” Mease says. From the beginning of colonisation in America, there was a push from the government to eradicate buffalo and force indigenous Americans to rely on cattle provided by white farmers. By the 1900s, the mass slaughter of buffalo meant that there were only 23 genetically pure buffalo left in the Yellowstone region.
The brucellosis myth, while having been largely disproven in recent years, has exacerbated this legacy of slaughter. The reality was that the cattle were infecting the buffalo, and that most buffalo have a natural immunity to the disease. However, over 12 000 buffalo have been killed because of this stigma since 1985. Buffalo are often inhumanely captured at the hands of officials, leaving them injured once they have been relocated or tested for brucellosis.
Combating the abuse of buffalo in the field, Mease and his team film and expose officials who haze the animals. They also track and monitor the herd in Yellowstone to keep tabs on their health and safety. Advocating against the slaughter, they are working to have wild buffalo officially listed as an endangered species. Mease’s goal is to change policies to allow the buffalo to migrate within the park and beyond, and so far they have managed to expand their allocated land.
Working closely with indigenous communities, Mease and his team are creating a world where buffalo are allowed to roam freely and let nature take its course. “Buffalo have a lot to teach humanity,” he says. “The more we can observe and watch and learn from nature, the better we can make this world.”
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