Wood Bison are a distinct northern subspecies of the American bison and are North America’s largest land mammal. Being the biggest can be great but it doesn’t necessarily mean that bison aren’t at risk of disappearing.
In 1964, wood bison was declared a “protected species” in an order under the Northwest Territories Act. This was the basis for putting a conservation restriction on wood bison under the first Territorial Legislation: Big Game Regulations of the NWT Wildlife Act. The NWT Species at Risk Act of 2009 identified wood bison as a species risk which necessitated the development of a recovery strategy.
In 1977, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated the wood bison as Endangered. In 1988 COSEWIC downlisted wood bison to Threatened thanks to population increases in the previous decade. Wood bison was legally listed as Threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act in June 2004. In 2013 COSEWIC assessed wood bison as Special Concern.
So basically this means that wood bison are recognized and protected as a species at risk of becoming extinct by both the Territorial and Federal governments.
Historically, wood bison ranged throughout the boreal forest of northern Alberta, northeastern BC, southwestern NWT, and parts of Yukon. Today, the majority of free-roaming wood bison are found in the NWT and northern Alberta particularly in and around Wood Buffalo National Park.
Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) was established in 1922 to protect bison habitat and prevent their extinction. The park is larger than the country of Switzerland and is the third largest National Park in the world.
The Mackenzie population around Fort Providence was listed at around 1500 animals in 2012. However, that summer the Mackenzie wood bison population experienced the worst anthrax outbreak known in northern Canada when at least 450 bison died over an 8 week period. By 2013 the Mackenzie bison population was down to just 700 animals.
The biggest threat to wood bison in the NWT is the presence of the exotic bovine diseases brucellosis and tuberculosis in the Wood Buffalo National Park populations. Bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis were introduced into Wood Buffalo National Park by some of the 6,673 plains bison that were transferred from Buffalo National Park in central Alberta to Wood Buffalo National Park in the 1920s as part of the population recovery strategy. in 2014 there were about 3500 wood bison in the park populations.
Wood bison are incredible animals. They have a mostly gentle, curious demeanor and when you have a chance to observe them from a safe distance they are beautifully majestic. If you ever have a chance to visit the NWT, keep your eyes open for these gentle giants, slow down when you are on the highways, and remember your encounter. If we aren’t careful you may only get one chance to see these creatures in the wild.
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