I suppose this story from Spearfish is no more than a postscript to the ecocide of Manifest Destiny, but housing development in the Northern Hills has killed the three buffalo that used to roam the grounds of the High Plains Western Heritage Center:
On Wednesday morning, officials with the Jumpoff Buffalo Ranch, located near Buffalo, S.D., loaded the three buffalo in a trailer, removing the animals that had roamed the center’s north pasture for nearly 20 years.
Peggy Ables, the director of the center cited safety concerns over recent development near the display pasture.
The liability of someone climbing over the fence and getting hurt was too great.
Joe Jorgenson, a co-owner of Spearfish Estates LLC, the firm that built the apartments said that another 18-unit complex would be built soon after the first of the year and more, depending on the need in Spearfish, are planned.
...The buffalo were slaughtered Wednesday morning and proceeds from the sale returned to the center. Although they will no longer roam the center’s grounds the male will still have a presence at the museum. He will be mounted and placed on display [Mark Watson, "End of an Era," Black Hills Pioneer, 2012.12.14].
So because people are too stupid not to jump a fence keeping them from getting stomplized by buffalo, and because Spearfish developers crave every scrap of land they can dig, three noble beasts are turned to steak. Sigh.
Dear Buffalo of the High Plains Western Heritage Center,
You were such a wonderful tradition here for 20 years. Because of you, we were able to bring in more tourists. People from all over who visited us, thought that you were the most memorable and made their long trip the most valuable. And because of you, we brought in even more tourists! Which our city and our state brag about! Tourism is our greatest economic booster.
To thank you for your service, we will have you slaughtered and made into food. We think this is such a great way to show how much we appreciate all of your efforts. And don't worry, to remember you more, we will have one of your heads mounted and maintained in the visitor center. For those returning visitors, they will be so happy to see that you might be gone from the pasture, but not gone from our memories. Again, thank you for all that you gave.
P.S. Why we didn't make this decision when houses were being built around here for the last several years, I don't know. And we are taking a chance that the longhorn cattle that we are replacing you with, won't stomp anyone that decides to enter the pen. We hope that we don't get sued if an ignoramous jumps the very same pasture and gets trampled by the longhorns.
Welcome to the world of our legal system. Liability sucks when we don't require a sufficient level of common sense out of the public. Next thing you know, people will be burning themselves from an unknown hot liquid called coffee....hehe
Thanks for writing about this, Cory. MANY things are paying a hefty price for the decision of this city to become the "apartment capital of the state". I was also appalled when I read this article the other day.
I understand that folks of any type of business or other entity need to always be cautious about liability issues. I do. But come on!! This was the only alternative? And longhorn cattle will roam the same pasture in 2013? (surely no one will jump in the pasture now!!) And aren't longhorn cattle more of a representation of Texas?? huh?
I used to (used to) have eagles, pheasants, and other wildlife that I frequently saw in and around my property on a daily basis. I haven't seen them for about three years now. I wonder if that has anything to do with the development of the McGuigan sub-division/Jorgensen development just to the west of me?? (wink! of course it does!!)
But at least those creatures had a fighting chance to find a new home. Spearfish needs to make a choice. They either want to continue to promote tourism - or they want to continue to have their chosen few, get financially sound in living off of the taxpayer dollars (low wage jobs = low income housing) They are trying to have it both ways.
Spearfish --- naturally UN-inviting.
Jeeez Cory you been living in a box? Nature always loses in the face of development and no, society does not have common sense anymore.....
Yup, it is a brave new world out there and we only crave the moolah. We destroy nature to check it out. Shameful, but of course, like everything else, we will forget about it in a week or less.
Like Spearfish is going to pay big wages right.
that's exactly my point, Moses. There are certain developers that have learned how to slurp the bottom-less gravy train of tax subsidies - when they build low income housing. How do you fill low income housing? More low income folks. How do you get more low income folks? Low wages and low income housing.
Why doesn't Spearfish (or this state, for that matter) want to encourage higher wage paying companies?
Because this low income gravy train rides them (a certain select few) right into financial security!!! It's a great gig if you can work it!
What have they got against vegans?
You are right, Bret: this situation really is an unsurprising metaphor for our march toward "Progress." But it's also a story about property rights: just as with TransCanada, we decide that a bigger business's property rights supersede the property rights of others.
Absolutely! Profits for the few, at the expense of many.