The following is a brief look at how things got so screwed up...white men decided that Bisons needed to die so they were killed in mass and left to rot, then a meat shortage followed and since the invasive water hyacinths gifted to New Orleans were killing off the fish it was suggested that hippos be brought in to both eat the hyacinths and live in the bayous and not require pasture to thrive so the hippos could also solve the meat problem. In 1910 the Hippo Bill was introduced to pay for the transportation of the animals which the New York Times referred to as, "lake cow bacon". Thankfully? the bill didn't pass so another invasive species was not brought on board at that time, though what did happen was just as bad...pastureland became feedlots and wetlands were drained to make grassland for cattle. Sounds like they were incredibly high at that time, or just plain not thinking.
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