Your Federal Government is about to hand over about 80 bison to multi-billionaire Ted Turner -- and no one is crying foul save the Native Americans.  These bison come from one of the last genetically pure stock left anywhere (most bison you see have cattle genetics mixed in).  Ted Turner, who owns Ted's Montana Grill and who has 50,000 head of bison already.  Who also charges $4000 for canned hunts.

Now, I've got nothing against someone making an honest living.  I'm not against canned hunts per se either.  But what I'm against is the Federal Government giving away part of our country's heritage, that being wildlife, and, in particular, the bison.  It's as if the Federal Government gave away Yellowstone to a private contractor.  Too big?  How about Old Faithful, then?  Or maybe Mount Rushmore? 

One of the differences between the United States and other countries is that the wildlife isn't owned by a single person.  It's owned by all the citizens of the United States.  So, when the Government gives away bison to a private individual, they've robbed us, pure and simple.  Those bison don't just below to Ted Turner -- they belong to you and me.  And within those bison are the genetic codes that may mean the survival or extinction of the bison.  What will happen to those bison is anyone's guess, because once they pass into private ownership, all the platitudes mean nothing.  Ted can do whatever the hell he likes with the bison -- offering canned hunts or serve them up for burger or use those genetics to strengthen his own herds.  They're worth more than the $4000 per animal he can get with them.  And even if they weren't, since when are we giving wildlife to individuals?

The tribes who live on Fort Belkap, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes, and the Wind River Reservation tribes, Northern Arapaho and Shoshone tribes, sought to take these bison to repopulate their reservations.  These bison, once found brucellosis free, should go to either public lands or tribal lands for repopulating the Western US.  But evidently, the people who are most deserving of these animals are denied once again.