State Senate Approves Buffalo as State Mascot
Air Date:02/06/2012
A bill that makes the buffalo the state mascot passed the state senate today.
If passed the buffalo would end up in a different designation from the coyote which is currently the state animal.
Republican State Senator Tom Nelson of Lead supports the bill.
"The buffalo sustained the native tribes here for centuries, the buffalo is a noble, majestic and marketable beast. There is no coyote roundup in the fall in Custer State Park, there is no coyote gap near Hot Springs, there is no coyote South Dakota in the northwest corner of our state. There is no coyote chip campground, the coyote has never been on a coin as far as I know and I have yet to see coyote wings on a restaurant menu," says Nelson
But those opposed to the measure argue that the jackrabbit should be the state mascot.
The bill aptly named the "Buffalo Bill" passed the State Senate 25 to 10. It goes next to the state House.
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