Bison Roundup

     Bison are incredible creatures.  I had already known this before the bison roundup.  I had even seen bison up close at Woolaroc and the Wichita Wildlife Refuge, but this experience was unlike anything else I had seen before.  I felt like I was so close to them for so long that I developed an emotional connection with them.  It felt as though I understood them that much more.

     Dr. Williams had mentioned that a guy would be right next to the bison helping to herd them into the gates, but I hadn’t fully processed what that meant. He was mere feet from death - something that we almost witnessed firsthand with all the jostling within the gates.  It was interesting to see that despite all the advances in technology we see today, the way we round up an animal as dangerous as a bison is by putting someone’s life at risk to help these creatures survive.  It brings up the question of whose life is less valuable.  

     After spending hours with these creatures, I started to feel sympathy for them.  This was piqued within the first round of bison, when Maverick ran through and gored one in a bad spot.  She was bleeding from the neck and it was starting to pool around her feet.  I could feel her fear from through the fence, and I could see it in her eyes that she was starting to accept her fate, which she thought was inevitable.  I was amazed at how calm she was in that moment.  Maybe it was from the loss of blood, but I think she has a vastly different experience with death than I.  I have never witnessed something that big die firsthand.  Not a human, not a bison, not a dog.  My view of death is purely abstract.  I have heard about it, but it still doesn’t feel real, like it could happen to me.  But in this moment, I started to realize just how real it is.  That cow had lived her life and was calmly waiting on herself to die, after being gored by a friend in a meaningless attempt to escape the people trying to help him survive.  Now, the bison didn’t understand all of this, but to die in front of all these foreign creatures in a cage by yourself away from your family is not the ideal way I see myself going out.  I felt that fear in the air.

     Luckily, the vet was able to stitch her up and she survived.  She escaped death in this one instance, but she was inevitably going to experience it again.  Just like I will see it happen throughout this world.  It is never enjoyable, but it gives this life meaning.  It makes moments like that so much more valuable.