In the Presence of Buffalo

Yellowstone National Park is home to the last pure remnant of buffalo that once ranged over North America. Despite the threat of extinction, governmental agencies are currently working together to slaughter any of these iconic animals that wander outside of the park's boundaries. Written by an eyewitness who has worked for years to disrupt the killing, Brister's stirs up frustration in this visceral portrayal of the wasting of one of our great natural resources. While justified by dubious concerns that the buffalo are spreading disease to cattle that graze the public lands around the park, Brister makes the case that the buffalo are merely the latest victims of the cattle lobby's sense of exclusive entitlement to federal lands, and that they view the wild buffalo as an encroachment on their sole right to use those public lands. Already operating with the federal grant of grazing privileges, the operation that has thus far exterminated 3,800 wild buffalo represents an additional subsidy to the cattlemen of $3 million annually. Simply put, a publicly owned natural resource is being slaughtered at public expense on public land, all for one small special interest group. Brister presents a strong thorough argument but his book is more than just animal rights advocacy. It's a personal, cultural, political examination of the buffalo's place in a human world. —Publishers Weekly