The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-11-19
ONLY A FEW LEFT.
The American Buffalo HAS Be-
como Nearly Extinct.
Colorado the Home of tho Remaining
Members of Countless Herds
Wanton Destruction of
the Animals.


There are about Fifty buffalos still
ranging wild in Colorado, says the Den
yer Republican. And yet one man, for
whom frontier justice is waiting, re-
Gently killed five.
1t has been SO generally and frequent
ly stated and published that the Ameri-
can buffalo and bison have become com
pletely and thoroughly extinct that the
general public has come to accept 1T as
q fact and believe that the only speci-
mems are those which have become do
mesticated and are carefully housed
and cared for in the several geological
gardens and parks.
That there arc few of them remaining
on the plains is certainly true. but there
are enough, with proper protection, to
soon produce large herds. In this state,
where once there were thousands OF
these animals, their number has been
rapidly reduced by hunters, who have
slain them simply for the momcntary
pleasure they have experienced in kill
ing large game, until they now number
less than fifty and are in four small
herds. These are confined to the rough
er and more sparsely populated dis
tricts, their habitations being more
effective protection to them than all
the state game laws ever enacted by the
general assembly.
SO small had grown the number OF
these distiuctively American animals
that in 1889 the state legislature enact
cd law providing a severe penalty for
the killing of u single specimen before
the year 1900, thus allowing full ten
years for them to propagate, but in
| spite of this enactment word was re-
| ceived but short time ago that some
| one in the Kenosha range had shot five
buffaloes. state Game Warden Land
| started at once to make special and
personal investigation of the case.
While out he has also made an extern
sitc visit through the state, and he has
| just returned with an interesting ac-
count. lie is somewhat discouraged
with many things connected with the
enforcement, or, more properly, the
nonenforcemcnt Cf al the game laws,
and predicts tl;t unlcss something
decisive is done, and that very soon, the
buffalo will no. be the only family
wiped from tho face Of the earth. he
reports most terrible slaughter of all
game during the last few months. He
was asked in reference to the killing OF
buffaloes.
''Thcrc are now very few of them,
he stated, land these, in our feeble
and crippled condition, we are endeav'
oring to protect. That five Of them
were killed recently is a fact, but
found that we could not convict the
guilty if we brought him to trial. He
admitted having killed five of them and
boasted of the fact to his friends, but
we could find no one, after careful in
vestigation, who would testify against
him, and if he were arraigned he
would, of course, say not guilty.
II Judge that we have now in the
state something less than fifty buffa
loes, and these are in four punches
One of these has recently been seen il
Middle pack, and numbers but five
Another, and possibly the largest, il
in the Kenosha range, and number.
possibly twenty. The third, Of ten o.
fifteen head, is at Hahn's peak, in Rout
county. The fourth, and the smalles
except that at Middle park, is a
| DolOreS' -