why were buffalo destroyed.?

Answer 1

To starve the Native Americans.

Answer 2

Great herds of these animals once roamed over North America between the Appalachian Mountains on the east and the Rockies on the west. The Indians depended upon their flesh for food and their hides for clothing. When the number of buffalo declined, many groups of Indians that lived on the plains found themselves without food. In 1850, about 20,000,000 buffalo still ran over the western plains. In order to lay down the railroad tracks, many were slaughtered since the trains had to come to a screeching halt when the herds were on the tracks. Then the white man would often shoot them from passing trains just for the sport of it. But by 1889, only about 550 buffalo (bison) could be found in the U.S. Then efforts were taken to restore the numbers to prevent the whole species from becoming extinct.

Answer 3

Buffalo weren't really destroyed, there wasn't any laws like there is now about hunting out of season, and since they were so big, the provided a lot of food for one's family and it was a great pass-time back in the earlier days. Not to mention the buffalo could also get in the way of making railroad tracks through the plains.

Answer 4

One of the factors was market hunting for hides and for meat. It was in demand. Buffalo robes are very warm and soft furry hides.

The next factor is the plow. As soon as the first plow and spool of barbed wire hit the prairie the Buffalo were doomed. If you were trying to get a crop of wheat would you want to see a herd of a million animals wandering over your farm. Nope they had to go.

The idea that it was to starve the Indians is Hokum. It was just a side effect of the other economic forces. The Indians were dying off from smallpox, measles and whiskey.

There is a similar feature to the story of the Passenger Pigeon. It was in huge flocks and was heavily hunted for market. It is usual to blame the disappearance just on the hunting. However the life and breeding cycle of the Passenger Pigeon depended upon huge areas if mature Beechwood forests in the Southern States. These forests were rapidly cut down to clear the way for agriculture. This was the end of the Passenger Pigeon. Once their population dropped below the level to have large flocks their breeding strategies failed and they disappeared.

Answer 5

Wrong answers so far:
--So grass could grow--In fact, buffalo help grass to grow. Buffalo only eat grass down to about two inches from the soil, which is exactly what it takes to continue propagation. Cows, in contrast, eat down to the root, which is fine for European grasses, but it kills American grass species. Furthermore, their hooves force new grass seeds into the ground at the proper depth for them to germinate. Cattle hooves simply destroy the soil.
--Buffalo were just hunted too efficiently and too much.--Totally not true. They were never a "cash crop" for food or clothing, only the American Indians used them this way.
--Buffalo never interfered with either telecommunications companies nor railroad companies. If I'm wrong, please cite a source confirming this.

Buffalo are indeed still around in many areas of the US. However, victom of love was 100% correct when he said "To starve the Native Americans." Since the many tribes of plains Indians used the buffalo for most of the essentials, food, clothing, tools, etc., the U.S. Cavalry thought that if we systematically slaughter the buffalo herds, the Indians would simply succumb. They killed buffalo by the thousands and left the carcasses to rot in waste. It was one of the most deplorable and horrific chapters of American history.

Seriously, why do you people answer a question when you don't have any clue what you're talking about?

Answer 6

The buffalo were over hunted for their meat (as a food source) and hides (which provided shelter from the cold) by both the indian natives as well as the white western settlers. Then as cattle became the main source of these things the buffalo were considered a pest, destroying fine cattle grazing property. They were not, as some would have you believe, hunted to extinction. They survive today in ample numbers both on the ranch and in the wild.

Answer 7

The buffalo are still here; they were not slaughtered into extinction. Now, they reside on government reservations, and once a year, hunters are allowed in to help lessen the population of the herds, for they can over graze and create problems.

Here's another perspective:

Answer 8

Their hides were used for clothing, they were a food source for the native Americans, and having millions of buffalo on the range was incompatible with cattle ranching and farming.

Later their bones were collected and shipped back east for making paint.

Answer 9

Victom of Love, Sophist and robert m are RIGHT!! I didn't know that it was Gen. Sherman???, but it was a US President who "ordered"? the destruction of the Indians' primary food source--the buffalo. Destroy that source and "The Indian Problem" was solved! I guess "the problem" was their interference in the "progress" of American Westard settlement, as others said.

Answer 10

Nobody went to the plains saying "I want to destroy the buffalo, that would make my day"

Buffalo were just hunted too efficiently and too much. They weren't given enough time to breed and people were wasteful with the buffalo they hunted.

Though at some point, expeditions were sent out by telegraph/phone companies because buffalo were messing with the lines/towers.

Answer 11

The 'left to rot' idea, as against the 100% used by the Indians, is a myth. The meat, and hides were used and the bones shipped back to make paint and glue.
Strange that the appearance on the Great Plains of these Indians who 'lived in harmony with nature' coincided with the extinction of several species!