THE PERSECUTION OF THE BISON
Rosalie Little Thunder talks to the Abolitionist

ACTION ALERT: The MT Dept. of Livestock has set up a trap and plans to capture and kill the approx. 300 buffalo that are in Montana right now. This includes little babies that are from one month to a week old... alerts, press releases, photos, etc. are at www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.

Abolitionist: How are you because I know you haven’t been well?

Rosalie Little Thunder: I have had a defective heart and I’ve had some repair on it but at this moment my health is good. I’ve got too much work to do to be sick.

Abolitionist: Why does the Bison have such a continual history of persecution in America?

Rosalie Little Thunder: The American people have adopted the buffalo symbol and I believe because of his size, the Buffalo is a very majestic animal but also I think they are prosecuted for that too. They are very very critical to the eco-system. They are a very important species to all other species. Also because they are wild. The main reason I believe they are prosecuted is because of their sacredness to the Plains tribes. Infact when they were decimated in the early part of the century the primary reason was to conquer the Plains tribes. They couldn’t conquer them before that, and because we were very dependant on the Buffalo and their migration and their social patterns and so when we needed to be conquered they killed the Buffalo to cut off our survival.

Abolitionist: Similarly, the American Native Indian has a long history of persecution and many people outside of the US see the Native American Indian various tribes as majestic and noble so I’d like to know your thoughts on how the Indians were prosecuted and why they were smashed back into compliance.

Rosalie Little Thunder: There is a need for power and control coming from the American. It’s very compelling for them. The Native people need a territory to survive for food mainly, for existence. We did not need an Empire. We needed to live with the land and we need to be able to survive. Back in history, where the conflicts happened and the Native people were being killed off, there was room for everybody. There could have been a more peaceful co-existence but at that time there was a need to drive the Native American off the land rather than trying to understand who these people were. There was no curiosity about that. My family – Chief Little Thunder – whose people were massacred by the Army under a flag of truce. We were camped peacefully in Nebraska when the Army approached and we had been told if you are peaceful bear a white flag. So he did. In 1855 I believe over one hundred people were killed mostly women and children and then again one of our ancestors was hung in Minnesota so my family has a very long history of this persecution. I often tell people when you think Native American then you think of Buffalo. If you think of Buffalo of Indians. They are very synonymous. When you think of one, you think of the other. This is the main reason why they are still being persecuted and this is the main reason why we are persecuted in more subtle ways. In South Dakota, for instance, the native people here are approximately 6-7% of the population and yet the population of the prisons is 50-65% Native American. So there’s a lot of persecution through the Courts. We have had people who have gone to prison for something as stealing a can of food from the store. We’ve had that happen and we have continued to those things happen.

The persecution is something we live with daily. You’d think you’d get used to it, you really don’t. You feel it going to the store sometimes difficult. If you try to rent a place or find a job – something as simple as that …I sometimes think of Hitler when he was killing so many people why didn’t somebody stop him early. But there was a mood there that he took advantage of and if Hitler practiced today in South Dakota, people would not stop him if his target were the Native people. He could then accomplish what he did to the Jewish people. The same kind of mood prevails here that nobody would stop him for too long.

Abolitionist: What about Yellowstone National Park and the latest news on the Bison. What are you activists up against and what’s the situation like now for the Buffalo?

Rosalie Little Thunder: I think there was one winter where their was so many deaths decimated only one third of the original herd has remained and they have re-populated again. Last winter they killed another 900 and it goes on. Some numbers in some years are a very small number, other years when they populate and there’s 100’s being slaughtered again, the media does not carry the message out. We have interesting media where our issues don’t go very far. Our voices go unheard. Our voices are suppressed so when this information is suppressed and so the immediate media around Yellowstone reports on what’s happening but it doesn’t carry the message very far. If the word gets out further, then people don’t react. Their attitude is, “It’s no big deal”, “ So what! It’s only an animal”. The American people are very insensitive to the fact that they are wiping out a whole species. If the very last buffalo on the face of the earth was standing there I’m sure the government officials have it in them to shoot to kill.

Abolitionist: Correct me if I am wrong but on Yellowstone at the moment there are facilities called “captured facilities” and the Buffalo has to stay within that range. If they move out they are tormented by the Ranger’s helicopters or by Rangers on Snow mobiles. They are even shot if they step out of these “captured facilities”. Is that correct?

Rosalie Little Thunder: Yes these captured facilities are placed very strategically where the Buffalo will trail out to the higher alleviations. When the winter is harsh and the snow is deep, they seek food and so they trail out to these valleys, to these river drainages to seek food at the lower alleviations. And this is where the captured facilities are placed.

Abolitionist: Your ideas on civil disobedience has changed over the years. Where are you at now with your ideas on civil disobedience?

Rosalie Little Thunder: I believe my arrest out there [recently] was an accident on my part. I did not expect it. I just went to view the most recent slaughter and they arrested me for “failing to leave”. If I had to do it again, yes I would. I think civil disobedience is a way of making a statement, it’s the way to do things non-violently but be heard. I would do it again, and again and again.

Abolitionist: What’s hazing?

Rosalie Little Thunder: Hazing is just pursuing them, harassing them with helicopters, with snowmobiles. Some of the pregnant buffalo are hazing even when they are giving birth! When they are very pregnant they are chased through deep snow. Last winter some of them where chased across a lake and they fell through the ice. They stayed in the icy water for hours until finally two of them drowned. I did not witness that in person but viewed it on a video but believe me, it’s very difficult to see that – that man has reached a level of not caring about life. To us the Buffalo is sacred and we have known this since childhood. The Buffalo are our brothers and we must see them as they are pushed into a terrible situation and watch as they struggled and they drown.

Abolitionist: With the DVD I viewed you could see clearly the hazing harassing forcing these beautiful animals to be chased is clearly a case of stalking. The stress of these magnificent creatures didn’t know where to run and what to do.

What is the solution? Is the solution tourism?

Rosalie Little Thunder: Not really. I believe the solution is letting them roam where they need to. I think the solution is to be tolerant. I believe that if their numbers become beyond the capacity of their habitat that Native people have offered to relocate them to their own tribal lands.

Abolitionist: The late Dennis Weaver was active on the range. Did you ever get to meet him?

Rosalie Little Thunder: No. It’s a huge territory and in South Dakota I come and go. Unfortunately I was not able to connect with him.

Abolitionist: Thank you so much for this interview. Are there any last words you’d like to add Rosalie.

Rosalie Little Thunder: We are proposing through the United Nations to start a campaign to protect the sacred species of the Native American people. The reason why we are doing this is because we believe that the sacred species are what the scientists call “the keystone species”. With the indigenous peoples of all lands globally we must try and protect these species because like the Buffalo for us, that they are the indictors of the health of the planet. So in this, it will eventually emerge that we are asking for the protection of the sacred species of the indigenous people from all around the globe.

Ed’s Note: Much thanks and gratitude must go to Stephany from Buffalo Field Campaign for greatly assisting us to get this important interview.

For a Media Pack on Yellowstone’s Buffalo contact: BFC-Media@wildrockies.org