For the last forty years I have lived in western South Dakota. I’ve been a biologist, a writer, a buffalo rancher and an outspoken voice against animal abuse. So it hurt and confused me to get an early morning phone call accusing me of starving my buffalo to death. The caller was enraged and slammed down the phone. From where I stood I could see out over the twenty-thousand acre pasture where our buffalo spend the winter. It took a few minutes and a good pair of binoculars, but I found the herd of 220 buffalo and confirmed that they were fine – roaming over the miles of grassland like their kind has done for tens of thousands of years. I had only time to shrug before the phone rang again. This time it was a friend, “Have you read the Bismarck Tribune?”
I shrugged again. “I don’t usually read the Bismarck Tribune.”
“Well, your name’s in it. Says here that the State of South Dakota has confiscated your 5000 buffalo ‘cause you’ve been starving them.” In a few minutes I had read the details online. It was a clear case of mistaken identity. But as I read, instead of feeling relieved about my own reputation, I felt sick to my stomach. On another western South Dakota ranch, buffalo were growing weak because their owner had not fed them enough. Already dozens lay dead in the snow banks.
South Dakota is not ranked first among the states in many categories, but buffalo ranching is one of them. Land managers in no other state have done more to bring back the buffalo from the abyss of extinction. In a small way, South Dakotans are making amends for the mindless buffalo slaughter of the late nineteenth century when between 30 and 60 million buffalo were slaughtered and left to rot on the Great Plains. By the early 1900’s, as a result of avarice and greed, masquerading as Manifest Destiny, the entire American buffalo herd was reduced to less than 1000 animals. All of us in South Dakota take great pride in our free-ranging private and conservation herds and the grasslands that support them. The owner of the ranch where the buffalo are starving is not a South Dakotan. He is a real estate mogul from Florida named Maurice Wilder.
No one with knowledge of buffalo management or a connection to the land had a hand in the current, ongoing tragedy taking place on Mr. Wilder’s ranch. I had been wrongly implicated because my name is the same as Wilder’s property manager, Dan O’Brien. A local rancher said he’d never seen the property manager and had only caught one glimpse of Mr. Wilder. “I saw him once getting out of his Learjet.”
In addition to the mismanaged Dakota buffalo ranch, Mr. Wilder owns farms and ranches in eight states. He has the distinction of being the largest beneficiary of American farm subsidies – millions of taxpayer’s dollars. Wilder Inc. is a diverse corporation and Mr. Wilder seems to have no real interest in agriculture, except as it feeds his acquisitive nature. The other Dan O’Brien is not a rancher. His main duty is the managing a huge string of Wilder’s Sunbelt mobile home parks.
Of course the part of this story that hurts even more than the awkward name confusion is Mr. Wilder’s apparent disregard for those starving buffalo. He seems not to have grasped the modern, enlightened concepts of sustainability and balance. His actions toward buffalo are more reminiscent of those ninetieth century values that nearly exterminated the buffalo.
There was a lot of snow out here this year, but deep snow is not uncommon in western South Dakota. We all keep extra hay on hand for emergency feeding. If things get tough, we are prepared to buy more hay and ready to borrow the money if necessary. Borrowing money is never necessary for Mr. Wilder. And besides, with buffalo prices at all time highs, selling a few buffalo to pay for the feed would have been the first idea that occurred to most of us.
Now, with at least another month of winter ahead, Mr. Wilder’s animals and the land where they live, are deeply stressed. The state of South Dakota has brought in hay and the neglected buffalo are impounded in Corson County, in the custody of Sheriff Keith Gall who is trying to manage Wilder’s poorly maintained ranch. But the buffalo are weak, the winter is cold, it is likely that more will die. There are only 4200 people in the county – many of them Lakota people with spiritual connections to the animals that are being sadly abused. A Native American friend and Corson County resident told me, “It is a slap in the face, insult over injury.” Mr. Wilder’s annual subsidy check no doubt amounts to more than Corson County’s entire yearly budget. I would imagine that the other Dan O’Brien brings down a salary that equals a dozen of Corson County’s wealthiest citizens.
In the last weeks, buffalo producers from all over the Dakota’s have volunteered to do whatever they can to help. They have offered to bring feed to the animals, truck them to better cared-for pastures, fix fences, or plow snow. We would do all this for free because we respect the buffalo and the land where they live. We don’t understand Mr. Wilder’s motivations. What is he thinking? What drives a man to regard other men like so many inconsequential serfs and to treat America’s majestic buffalo as just another expendable commodity? Mr. Wilder’s actions break the hearts of those of us who are genuinely connected to the land. Through buffalo, we have found a way to move forward in this modern world and still retain that connection to a balanced ecosystem. It is difficult work and the attitude of folks like Mr. Wilder makes it even more difficult.
For the last forty years I have lived in western South Dakota. I’ve been a biologist, a writer, a buffalo rancher and an outspoken voice against animal abuse. So it hurt and confused me to get an early morning phone call accusing me of starving my buffalo to death. The caller was enraged and slammed down the phone. From where I stood I could see out over the twenty-thousand acre pasture where our buffalo spend the winter. It took a few minutes and a good pair of binoculars, but I found the herd of 220 buffalo and confirmed that they were fine – roaming over the miles of grassland like their kind has done for tens of thousands of years. I had only time to shrug before the phone rang again. This time it was a friend, “Have you read the Bismarck Tribune?”
I shrugged again. “I don’t usually read the Bismarck Tribune.”
“Well, your name’s in it. Says here that the State of South Dakota has confiscated your 5000 buffalo ‘cause you’ve been starving them.” In a few minutes I had read the details online. It was a clear case of mistaken identity. But as I read, instead of feeling relieved about my own reputation, I felt sick to my stomach. On another western South Dakota ranch, buffalo were growing weak because their owner had not fed them enough. Already dozens lay dead in the snow banks.
South Dakota is not ranked first among the states in many categories, but buffalo ranching is one of them. Land managers in no other state have done more to bring back the buffalo from the abyss of extinction. In a small way, South Dakotans are making amends for the mindless buffalo slaughter of the late nineteenth century when between 30 and 60 million buffalo were slaughtered and left to rot on the Great Plains. By the early 1900’s, as a result of avarice and greed, masquerading as Manifest Destiny, the entire American buffalo herd was reduced to less than 1000 animals. All of us in South Dakota take great pride in our free-ranging private and conservation herds and the grasslands that support them. The owner of the ranch where the buffalo are starving is not a South Dakotan. He is a real estate mogul from Florida named Maurice Wilder.
No one with knowledge of buffalo management or a connection to the land had a hand in the current, ongoing tragedy taking place on Mr. Wilder’s ranch. I had been wrongly implicated because my name is the same as Wilder’s property manager, Dan O’Brien. A local rancher said he’d never seen the property manager and had only caught one glimpse of Mr. Wilder. “I saw him once getting out of his Learjet.”
In addition to the mismanaged Dakota buffalo ranch, Mr. Wilder owns farms and ranches in eight states. He has the distinction of being the largest beneficiary of American farm subsidies – millions of taxpayer’s dollars. Wilder Inc. is a diverse corporation and Mr. Wilder seems to have no real interest in agriculture, except as it feeds his acquisitive nature. The other Dan O’Brien is not a rancher. His main duty is the managing a huge string of Wilder’s Sunbelt mobile home parks.
Of course the part of this story that hurts even more than the awkward name confusion is Mr. Wilder’s apparent disregard for those starving buffalo. He seems not to have grasped the modern, enlightened concepts of sustainability and balance. His actions toward buffalo are more reminiscent of those ninetieth century values that nearly exterminated the buffalo.
There was a lot of snow out here this year, but deep snow is not uncommon in western South Dakota. We all keep extra hay on hand for emergency feeding. If things get tough, we are prepared to buy more hay and ready to borrow the money if necessary. Borrowing money is never necessary for Mr. Wilder. And besides, with buffalo prices at all time highs, selling a few buffalo to pay for the feed would have been the first idea that occurred to most of us.
Now, with at least another month of winter ahead, Mr. Wilder’s animals and the land where they live, are deeply stressed. The state of South Dakota has brought in hay and the neglected buffalo are impounded in Corson County, in the custody of Sheriff Keith Gall who is trying to manage Wilder’s poorly maintained ranch. But the buffalo are weak, the winter is cold, it is likely that more will die. There are only 4200 people in the county – many of them Lakota people with spiritual connections to the animals that are being sadly abused. A Native American friend and Corson County resident told me, “It is a slap in the face, insult over injury.” Mr. Wilder’s annual subsidy check no doubt amounts to more than Corson County’s entire yearly budget. I would imagine that the other Dan O’Brien brings down a salary that equals a dozen of Corson County’s wealthiest citizens.
In the last weeks, buffalo producers from all over the Dakota’s have volunteered to do whatever they can to help. They have offered to bring feed to the animals, truck them to better cared-for pastures, fix fences, or plow snow. We would do all this for free because we respect the buffalo and the land where they live. We don’t understand Mr. Wilder’s motivations. What is he thinking? What drives a man to regard other men like so many inconsequential serfs and to treat America’s majestic buffalo as just another expendable commodity? Mr. Wilder’s actions break the hearts of those of us who are genuinely connected to the land. Through buffalo, we have found a way to move forward in this modern world and still retain that connection to a balanced ecosystem. It is difficult work and the attitude of folks like Mr. Wilder makes it even more difficult.
Comments 16
Makes you want to kick the wall!
Another example of power corrupting, of the rich and well-connected taking advantage of tax subsidies and wealth to ruin the economy, ruin the ecology. Keep doing what you’re doing and maybe some politicians somewhere will have the moral conscience and the good sense to end the abuse of tax-subsidized agriculture which is not agriculture at all.
Frustrating and sad…to say the least.
This is a case of someone devoted to making money at the expense of everything else:a situation far too prevalent among the haves of the world. It has always struck me as a big price to pay in exchange for one’s humanity. The question I keep asking is “Why?” Studies have shown that once one’s basic needs are met having more material goods won’t make you happier. So what drives these people? Are they over compensating for a lingering insecurity? Are they psychopathic? A lot of these business types have high energy and drive but seem to lack the imagination to direct it toward anything other than making more money.
It has been said that power and money corrupt but what I think they really do is reveal one’s true character.
Dan: I wonder if one well written and well placed letter–say in the Wall Street Journal or another publication read by business people and colleages of the bison abuser–might bring some pressure on him to change his ways and pay attention. Thanks for making us all aware of this tragedy; I will pray for the best for the beasts. Linda, Minneapolis.
Dan, I like your style. Call them out by name. Sad situation, especially in cold weather.
Dear Dan, great piece. How about sharing it with Timothy Egan of the NY Times? This tragic story could get some traction if it catches his attention.
Jill
I hope legal action is taken against this heinous man!
Unfortunately, this represents too much of the population’s lack of appreciation of nature, in general, wealthy or not. This needs national attention.. hmm-m-m.
Shame on the greedy land owner. I hope they take legal action against him and his employee. Best punishment might just be a week outside in the South Dakota snow!!
Dan, did the newspaper print a retraction or do anything to mend your reputation? Sorry to hear of this tragedy…
Nicely done, Dan’l. When the story first broke, I looked up info on Wilder and read a piece where he was interviewed and talked about how much he loves ranching, the animals, etc. Romantic claptrap from the usual absentee owner: too much of the history of the West and of this nation, as you note.
Best to Jill and Jillian; I see Luke now and then.
The Bismark Tribune printed the story above and Kevin Woster with the RC Journal posted a correction. Sent info on to the NY Times, so we will see….
Thanks, Dan. As always, written so well and so from the heart.
This sad story is just another unfortunate example of corporate greed – this land owner apparently shares the same values that are hosted by the Wall Street king pins. Everything is for sale, no one is accountable and to hell with the social and terrestrial environment.
Thanks for the info Dan, I would call the Agriculture Secretary or BLM(yah! I know dead end) or you can email the president directly at White House.org or gov and someone will read it. Like the Wall Street Journal send them also…..corrupt people do stink and get sniffed out occasionally. Its a sin , for sure on so many levels.
Dont forget power of FaceBook and Twitter it!