Wood Bison - Conservation

Conservation

In addition to the loss of habitat and hunting, Wood Bison populations have also been in danger of hybridizing with Plains Bison, and therefore polluting the genetic stock.

As with other bison, the Wood Bison's population was devastated by hunting and other factors. By the early 1900s, they were regarded as extremely rare or perhaps nearly extinct. However, a herd of about 200 was discovered in Alberta, Canada in 1957. This herd has since recovered to a total population of approximately 2,500, largely as a result of conservation efforts by Canadian government agencies. In 1988, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) changed the subspecies' conservation status from "endangered" to "threatened".

On June 17, 2008, 53 Canadian Wood Bison were transferred from Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada, to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Anchorage, Alaska. There they were to be held in quarantine for two years, and then re-introduced to their native habitat in the Minto Flats area near Fairbanks, but this plan is still on hold as of 2011.

Currently there are approximately 7,000 Wood Bison in the wild, located in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.

In 2006 an outherd was established in Yakutia, Russia, where the related steppe bison died out over 6000 years ago.