The Trump administration is planning to evict 950 bison from their grazing pastures on federal lands in Montana.
The Department of the Interior, which has a bison as its logo, has revoked the licence of a rewilding charity trying to restore the natural splendour of the “American Serengeti”, the eco-diverse range of grasslands home to wolves, pronghorns, grizzly bears and mountain lions.
Honestly, my understanding is that Ted Turner basically saved the bison from extinction by deciding to maintain a herd, just so he can serve them up at his restaurant.
The motivations are what they are, but the outcome is definitely positive.
Some of the most common large animals in the world are only so because they’re livestock. Otherwise, they might’ve been extinct by now (compare cows and aurochs, for example). Between that and funding wildlife conservation through hunting and fishing license revenue, having, let’s say, “fraught” motivations like that is not unusual at all.