A BISON SANCTUARY

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6409, 1 November 1923, Page 5

A BISON SANCTUARY

A new national park for the conservation of wild bison, to be known as Wood Buffalo Park, has been established by the Canadian Government near Fortsmith, Alberta, on the west side of the Slave River. The, new park includes within its borders, the habitation of two herds of wood bison, estimated to number 200 head. These wood bison differ little from, the buffalo that once blackened the prairies of the ''United States and Canada, but are said to be slightly larger and of a darker colour. With the exception of a small herd still roaming the northern fastnesses of Yellow Stone Park, these are the only wild bison remaining in North America. The bison population of the continent, according to an estimate of Dr. W. F. Hornaday, a recognised authority on the buffalo, once totalled 15,000,000, and its distribution extended from the Atlantic seaboard to a little west of the Rocky Mountains. The Canadian Government herd in Wainwright Park, in Alberta, now numbers nearly 7000 head, or threefifths of all the bison in existence.