Sunday, August 15, 2010

Crittenden's Buffalo

In the early 2000's several Native American descendants came to Crittenden County with plans to bring many Native American sites and events back to this land.  Most of the plans never materialized and not much is known about what happened with the ones that were here.

One of the things they had big plans for was the returning of buffalo herds to the county.  Most everyone was excited about this.  It was really exciting to see these huge animals from many years ago grazing on our local land.  These buffalo were brought to Crittenden County in 2004 by the local Cherokee organization as a tourist attraction and novelty.

The first herd was placed on a farm on the Weldon Rd. about 4 miles from Marion.  The animals seemed to do fine - until they decided they wanted to roam.  Once out and on their own, they were not about to be returned and put back in the fenced in area.  The herd had to be done away with.

A second group were placed on a farm on the Aunt Jane Tabernacle Road  about 12 miles from Marion.  The picture above is of these buffalo's.  They were content for awhile, but as their nature, they wanted to roam.  Through the fence they went and during their travels, they damaged local farmers fences and hay and forage.  In the end these 4 magnificient animals had to be done away with also.

A native American saying is "You can drive a buffalo anywhere he wants to go."  That about says it all.


In this picture the buffalo are shown in the back of the photo.  They looked perfectly at home on this land.  But it's not their nature to be confined to a fenced in field.

We got to enjoy them for a while, but it was not to be that they be a part of Crittenden County history for very long.

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