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Wood
Bison in the process of being released into the wild on April
3, 2015.
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The United States has a population of wild wood bison for the
first time in more than 100 years.
On Friday, April 3, 100 wood bison which had been kept in temporary
pens near Shageluk, Alaska, for just over a week were lead by Alaska
Department of Fish and Game Biologist Tom Seaton across the Innoko
River to freedom.
Bison Biologist Seaton opened the gates to the temporary pens
and called the bison to follow his snowmobile across the Innoko
River to sedge and grass meadows in the Lower Innoko/Yukon Rivers
area which will become their new home. Bison galloped behind the
snowmobile all the way across the river to the sedge meadow, a distance
of nearly a mile.
The bison had been conditioned to follow a snowmobile distributing
food pellets at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) where
they have been cared for over the past decade.
Each of the 100 wood bison is wearing a radio collar. The herd
will be intensively monitored over the next two years to learn where
it roams and what their effects on the habitat will be.
The animals ranging in size from about 200 lbs to more than
1300 lbs, were placed in special shipping containers at AWCC March
22-24, trucked from Portage to Anchorage International Airport,
and flown about 340 miles west to the village of Shageluk. The area
was chosen for the wood bison restoration program because it provides
excellent habitat and has strong public support.
Though lesser known than plains bison, wood bison flourished
for thousands of years in Alaska and Canada, but disappeared from
Alaska in the 1800s-early 1900s. Since 2003, the small herd has
been growing at AWCC in Portage waiting for this reintroduction.
ADF&G is planning to barge some adult bulls from AWCC out to
the same area later this summer.
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Wood
Bison heading for their first taste of freedom near Shageluk.
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"The animals acclimated to Southwest Alaska very quickly and
calmed down from the stress of travel within a week," said Division
of Wildlife Conservation Regional Supervisor David James. "The dream
of wild wood bison that has been growing for the last two decades
is now a reality."
ADF&G staff followed protocols developed in Canada for a
"soft release" of wood bison. "Rather than release them when they
arrived in Shageluk, we held them until the stress of transportation
subsided and then we lured them with a trail of food to sedge meadows
a few miles away," Seaton explained. "There is a lot of habitat
in the Innoko region, and it is very exciting to think about what
kind of resource this bison herd could be in a few decades."
"We needed to get the cows out to the meadows before calving,
which will happen in May, because calving should anchor them to
their habitat," Seaton added. About half of the adult cows are pregnant.
A small herd of wood bison remains at AWCC, where people can
see and learn about these majestic animals.
"We've enjoyed caring for the herd, but it's good to know they're
now free. We're pleased to have played a role in bringing back a
species from extinction," said AWCC Executive Director Mike Miller.
Wood bison inhabited Alaska and northwestern Canada for thousands
of years. Their numbers declined in the 1800s and they were declared
extinct but a small herd was discovered in Canada in 1957. From
that herd, conservation efforts have resulted in about 5,000 disease-free
wood bison in seven wild herds in Canada.
Skeletal remains of wood bison and oral histories from some
Alaska Natives in the eastern Interior show that wood bison disappeared
from the state within the past 200 years, likely from a combination
of habitat change and unregulated hunting. Wood bison were last
sighted in Eastern Alaska in the 1920s.
Wood bison are grazers, which has been an empty niche in the
boreal forest ecosystem in Alaska since bison disappeared. Wood
bison are a slightly larger subspecies than the plains bison which
roam the Continental 48 plains states, and are larger and more adapted
to northern areas.
The Alaskan herd of wood bison has been maintained and grown
under the supervison of the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
staff since 2003.
The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is a 501 (c) (3) corporation
dedicated to conservation, education, and quality animal care of
Alaska's wildlife. For more information about the center, visit:
http://www.alaskawildlife.org/.
For more information on bison in Alaska, visit: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=woodbison.main
Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center
The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to conservation, education, and quality animal care of
Alaska's wildlife. AWCC has provided care for hundreds of displaced
animals because visitors like you have made critical contributions
in the form of admission fees, donations, memberships, and gift
shop purchases.
http://www.alaskawildlife.org
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