Jeff Martin, who grew up on a buffalo ranch in Wisconsin and now studies animals at South Dakota State University, said there is a link between the rising number of cases and a warming climate, which can stress buffaloes by weakening their immune systems. and makes them more susceptible to infections. The northern plains, where many outbreaks originated, have experienced severe drought in recent years.
“This is just one of the expected outcomes of a worsening climate: drought, warming, wildfires,” said Dr. Martin, director of research at the South Dakota Bison Center of Excellence.
According to Richard Williams, a Native American consultant who is an Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne, the buffalo is an integral part of the Lakota Sioux’s creation story. The Lakota people, who have migrated through the Plains for centuries with the buffalo and fed on its meat, consider the buffalo to be their relative.
“We believe that the strength of our people, the strength of our relationship with the world, has been linked to the well-being of bison,” Mr. Williams said. According to him, it is painful to see how animals die from diseases in large numbers. “It’s scary. It makes us nervous. What does it mean? What is the future of it? And why aren’t we paying more attention to it?”
Mr Dubreuil, who raises buffalo for a living, said his business had already been hit by the outbreak and he expected the hardship to worsen when he spoke publicly about his experience. It was a risk he was willing to take to help the species, he said.
Recently, as he drove an SUV through his pasture, which stretches for miles across rolling countryside and riverbeds, he scanned the horizon for bison standing alone, limping, or coughing—all signs of infection. There were many.