(US-ca/sd) Calif. buffalo returning to home on the range
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Dec 15, 2004, 11:53:53 PM12/15/04
to ar-news
AVALON, Calif., Dec. 15 - Like so many settlers of this state, they
came from sturdy midwestern stock, not really meant for the sun and
salt air but lured out here by the silver screen.
They never became stars, of course. Once Hollywood was done with them,
they were stranded, with no way home. But surprisingly, they managed
to eke out a new life for themselves here. In fact, they thrived all
too well -- all over the verdant slopes, delicate shores and winding
roadways of Santa Catalina Island.
Fourteen buffalo that were shipped here about 80 years ago to play bit
parts in a silent film spawned a herd that quickly grew to as many as
500 at one point.
On Wednesday, about 100 were rounded up to make the return trip their
ancestors never made -- to a Lakota Indian reservation in South
Dakota, in an arrangement designed to relieve the overstressed island
and to replenish the thinning ranks of bison in their native Great
Plains. In a ceremony to see them off, a leader of Catalina's
indigenous Tongva tribe raised a large feathered talisman to bless the
beasts.
...
A long-term study determined that Catalina could sustain about 150
buffalo. For a few years, the conservancy shipped small numbers of the
animals to auction, where some ended up in breeding programs and
others in slaughterhouses.
Last year, the group was approached by the animal rights organization
In Defense of Animals, which suggested sending some to the Plains. A
first group of about 100 was shipped last fall, with no ceremony, to
several Lakota reservations in South Dakota.
full story:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6720524/
--
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came from sturdy midwestern stock, not really meant for the sun and
salt air but lured out here by the silver screen.
They never became stars, of course. Once Hollywood was done with them,
they were stranded, with no way home. But surprisingly, they managed
to eke out a new life for themselves here. In fact, they thrived all
too well -- all over the verdant slopes, delicate shores and winding
roadways of Santa Catalina Island.
Fourteen buffalo that were shipped here about 80 years ago to play bit
parts in a silent film spawned a herd that quickly grew to as many as
500 at one point.
On Wednesday, about 100 were rounded up to make the return trip their
ancestors never made -- to a Lakota Indian reservation in South
Dakota, in an arrangement designed to relieve the overstressed island
and to replenish the thinning ranks of bison in their native Great
Plains. In a ceremony to see them off, a leader of Catalina's
indigenous Tongva tribe raised a large feathered talisman to bless the
beasts.
...
A long-term study determined that Catalina could sustain about 150
buffalo. For a few years, the conservancy shipped small numbers of the
animals to auction, where some ended up in breeding programs and
others in slaughterhouses.
Last year, the group was approached by the animal rights organization
In Defense of Animals, which suggested sending some to the Plains. A
first group of about 100 was shipped last fall, with no ceremony, to
several Lakota reservations in South Dakota.
full story:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6720524/
--
Your Portal to Animal Concerns Forum (discussion board), More News
Headlines, Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, and Organizations! Try
searching for the news item on Animalconcerns!
http://www.animalconcerns.org/
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