For those unaware, massive herds of buffalo in the US were slaughtered in an attempt to keep Native Americans, many of whom were dependent on hunting the herds as they migrated, in one place where they could be watched and controlled. A very ugly piece of our history.
I get into a bit of an internet slap-fight about this topic here: https://slrpnk.net/post/13729485/11259214
My sleep-deprived brain was hysterically lost, and I thought I was replying to different post. Despite this, I think it fits well here.
yeah, the intentional extirpation of a species is pretty heinous, but i mean... look at what the Dutch were doing that century. or what was happening at plantations and mines around the world. hell, compared to what's happening at mines and plantations and factories around the world today.
makes you realize it's not really worth comparing evils beyond a certain point. it'll only serve to make you feel bad and maybe hurt someone's feelings for no reason.
this image always terrifies me. humans are fully capable and willing to do this kind of thing, particularly before the age of modern photography and video.
I will say that there were indigenous American tribes that weren't much better in terms of how they treated bison. Some hunted them pretty sustainably, but the Blackfoot believed that if you didn't kill the whole herd, the rest of them would learn to be wary of humans. So they drove the whole herd off a cliff. They only harvested a small portion of that herd when they were done, which is why there are just massive piles of bones at the bases of those cliffs.