The protagonists of this story are bison, Native Americans and Yankees, yet we are not in the old West but in the present day. Last Tuesday, numerous Native American activists gathered in Helena, the capital of Montana, to protest against the killing of hundreds of bison (Bison bison) from Yellowstone National Park, slaughtered following pressure from ranchers, who accuse the animals of infecting livestock and spreading disease.

The protesters spoke out against the management of bison by federal authorities, which provides for the culling of the animals every winter, when some herds leave the park's boundaries and approach Montana in search of food.

"This is a new beginning in the fight to protect the bison and other wild animals that live on Indian territory," said Jimmy St. Goddard, self-proclaimed spiritual leader of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana.

Yellowstone is home to the largest herd of wild bison in the United States; beyond their biological value, they are also an important economic resource, representing a major attraction for the three million people who visit the park every year.

These imposing mammals once roamed in vast herds numbering tens of millions of individuals, until unregulated hunting almost completely wiped out the species; by the twentieth century, the survivors numbered just fifty animals, which found a safe refuge in Yellowstone National Park.

Under an agreement between the park and the surrounding states of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, the hundreds of bison that stray outside the protected area may be killed through regulated hunting. This decision has provoked protests from bison supporters, including some Native Americans and the Buffalo Field Campaign, an organisation made up of volunteers who monitor bison habitats and document the abuses the animals are forced to endure.