“The Pawnee Nation continues to support this effort and to stand in solidarity with the many tribes who seek to protect our cultures and defend the sacred. I appreciate adding my signature to this historic treaty.”

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W. Bruce Pratt, President, Pawnee Nation.

 

 “The spiritual rights of traditional Pawnee people are currently being violated through this direct attack on the sovereignty and spiritual rights of those Tribal Nations designated as ‘Associated Tribes of Yellowstone.’ Like the ‘Associated Tribes of Yellowstone,’ historically the Pawnee people shared a deep cultural relationship with the grizzly bear and the land we both walked upon. Traditionally, the most powerful healers and medicine men among the Pawnee were Grizzly Bear Medicine Men, who when doctoring were transformed and imbued by the spirit of the grizzly . . . Tribal Nations have alternative solutions to outdated ‘wildlife management’ practices, and those solutions and values should be incorporated into any proposed delisting rule. Trophy hunting sentient beings only appeals to a tiny minority of a particular demographic within the US population, and it is antithetical to the traditional cultures and subsistence practices of tribal people. The Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, like the other impacted Tribal Nations, comes from a subsistence tradition, not a killing tradition. Our ancestors taught ceremony, responsibility, and reciprocity in our lifeway.”

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From the Pawnee Nation declaration opposing the delisting and trophy hunting of the grizzly bear (3/3/2015).