El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-09-26
BUFFALO HASN'T
CONE FOR GOOD
He Is Coming Back
Crossed With Cattle,
He's a Great Animal.

" dSlAl@ LOns u L. sept 81 AeEe
are now no less than seven thousand
buffaloes in North America, they are
increasing rapidly, and Americas most
famous and characteristic large ami
nal is considered TO be fairly safe
from determination.
The buffalo has long figured in the
popular mind as a creature practically
or nearly extinct But for the last
twenty years, while he has been serv-
ing as a pathetic example Of mans
ruthless destructiveness, by attend
ing strictly TO the business OF rails
ing calves. and paying no attention
to the alarming rumors that he was
extinct, the Buffalo, as a species, has
literally crawled out Of his grave.
There was time. within the
memory Of living men, when there
were more buffalo in the United
States than there are now people
The scientists Of the biological sur
very. who watched and nursed the
buffalo during the days when he was
almost gone. firmly believe that ad-
vertising saved his life. II led rich
men to buy buffaloes and found
herds. 1t gave popular support to
the government buffalo reservations.
It saved the buffalo from neglect, of
which he would surely have died.
Antelope In Danger.
As showing how important publicity
has been to the buffalo, the scientists
compare him with the pronghorn an
telOpe. There are now only about
5000 OF these animals in the United
States. and they are in far greater
danger Of determination than the
buffalo. Although slightly more nu-
merous. they are not nearly so well
protected and do not live and breed
well in captivity Unless reservations
are set aside for them, and other
radical measures taken for their pro-
lection, they viii be gone in another
ten years
And the antelope is just as distinc-
tive and interesting an American ami
it once lived all over half the CONT
nent in uncOunted millions.
Buffalo DOmesticates.
The buffalo, in addition to his hold
upon popular affection, has another
strong claim TO the right OF survival
IN the fact that he has great pos
slbilities as a domestic animal
It has been usual to say that the
buffalo had TO 90 to give way to the
cattle. herds on the western plains. l
and Il is probably true that II would
have been impossible to conserve the ]
enormous wild herds Of buffalo-to J
use them for the national meat supply
that the buffalo has been reduced in (
numbers and handled like a domestic /
animal fl many parks, II has been l
discovered that he is really not much /
harder TO manage than any other va
riety Of cattle. II is true that he re-
tains q contempt for fences, and the !
great weight OF his shoulders. pro-
tected by a mantole Of heavy hair, /
enables him to express this contempt /
for barb wire by going right through /
II. An ordinary three OF four strand I
barbed wire fence does not hold him /
at all.
But government buffalo pastures are |
enclosed in woven wire fencing with |
strong posts planted about sixteen |
feet apart This spacing gives the /
fence a certain residence, 50 that /
when the buffalo hits it. he has a
tendency to bounce back
Can Stand the Cold
The potential value OF the buffalo I
as a domestic animal lies in the fact /
that he can stand very cold weather. |
He can survive a winter that would |
XIII cattle, and can get to the grass
through deeper snow than can cattle. /
The cattalo. which is a cross be-
tween the buffalo and domestic stock, I
is an even more promising animal than /
the buffalo. This hybrid IS generally /
larger than either OF its parents It /
inherits the hardihood OF the buffalo |
and also his heavy valuable coat A /
catta1o robe has been sold for $1,000 !
OF the seven thousand buffalo now /
alive. about half are in the United 1
States and half in Canada The gov
eminent owns slightly less than d l
thousand buffalo These are on eight /
reserva tons and national parks the /
largest herd being that Of the Yellow
stone with 40 members