Cases / Law, regulation and treaties · United States · 1872–1894
Bison were counted at about 1,091 in 1889, before an 1894 law
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
PBS Nature gives an 1889 count of about 1,091 bison and 20 in Yellowstone, and cites an 1894 law. What is at stake for nature is the species' wild population.
What?
An 1894 law is cited as bison protection, after an 1889 count of about 1,091 bison and a Yellowstone count of 20, per PBS Nature. PBS Nature
Where?
United States, including Yellowstone PBS Nature
When?
1889 count and 1894 law, per PBS Nature; 1872–74 hide trade, per HistoryNet PBS Nature
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
- American bison herds — Counted at about 1,091 in 1889 PBS Nature
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Hide hunting is the trade context HistoryNet gives for its 4.37 million figure; the 1894 law is the protective step cited. HistoryNet
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
PBS Nature gives an 1889 count of about 1,091 bison.
PBS Nature gives 20 bison in Yellowstone and cites an 1894 law.
HistoryNet gives a figure of 4.37 million bison for the 1872–74 hide trade.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: the 1894 law set prison terms and fines for poachers.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: railways and grazing land opened for livestock may have gained from the decline.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: Indigenous peoples whose ways of life depended on bison bore the cost.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: the species survived in farm and park herds but did not return to its former range.
- Insufficient Who gained, beyond the unverified railway and grazing claim, is not stated in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Skin and bones tradeHistoryNet ·