I should know better than to pick nits with Jed's posts, since it usually turns out I'm wrong, but I'm going ahead anyway...
Jed Rothwell wrote:
RC Macaulay wrote:
Their ability to enter a dairy barn and kill every animal without feeding on their kill is known, but not understood.
People do the same thing, no doubt for similar reasons. American buffalo [...] were hunted to the brink of extinction for sport.
Actually my understanding is that they were pushed to the brink, not for sport, but as part of a concerted effort by the U.S. government to remove the food supply needed by migratory Indian tribes who followed the buffalo. The goal was to force the Indians onto reservations.
Perhaps the hunters pulling the triggers were doing it "for sport" but they were encouraged (and, I think, paid something for each buffalo killed) by the government.
That wasn't exactly the proudest moment in U.S. history and it isn't emphasized in most history books.
('Scuse the non-PC language.)
