Wildlife Officials Accused Of Cover-Up Indian: Tribes A Smoke Screen For Killing Of Wandering Bison

Wildlife officials are being accused of using Indians as a smoke screen to cover up the pre-Christmas massacre of 83 bison that wandered into Montana from Yellowstone National Park.

“There’s no honor in scavenging, dressing out carcasses,” said Scott Frazier, who identifies himself as a Santee-Crow Indian.

Frazier said Indians responding to wildlife officials’ call to dress out the meat of bison are being used to cover up the shootings, contending the tribal members are becoming “wards of the government.”

It is state policy for wildlife officials to notify Indian tribes when they are preparing to shoot buffalo that wander out of Yellowstone National Park. Notice is given so the tribes can deal with the carcasses and keep the meat.

“Indians honor buffalo,” Frazier said. “They are us.”

But hunting buffalo on horseback armed with a spear would be more honorable than the shootings carried out in the name of controlling the animals, he said.

“Don’t sit back with a rifle at 150 yards and drop 50 head,” he said.

State and federal livestock officials say allowing buffalo to look for food in Montana is a threat to the brucellosis-free status given Montana cattle. There are concerns buffalo will infect cattle with brucellosis, which causes cows to abort their calves.

Hundreds of buffalo have been shot in Montana over the past decade, and on Dec. 20, 83 were killed near West Yellowstone. Montana’s policy of shooting buffalo will continue until a new federal-state plan takes effect early in 1996.

When buffalo are killed, Indians are called because state officials do not want the meat to be wasted, assistant state veterinarian Owen James said.

“Most of them are very appreciative,” he said. “Buffalo has always been their meat. The buffalo has religious significance to them.”

Frazier favors an Inter Tribal Bison Cooperative plan that would quarantine buffalo entering Montana. Animals deemed healthy would be given to Indian tribes and raised on reservations.