Canadian Wood Bison Fly to Russia

Five to six thousand years ago, the hooves of the steppe bison could be heard throughout Siberia's taiga region. With the onset of a glacial period and the introduction of hunters, Siberia's bison population has since become extinct.

This spring, a bison recovery project brought back the sound of roaming herds to a Russian nature park in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The Canadian wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) is the closest living relative to the extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus). Both come from the taiga region – the northern edge of the boreal coniferous forest, south of the subarctic tundra regions stretching from Labrador to Alaska and from Siberia to Scandinavia. Over 168 000 wood bison once lived in northern Canada.

When biologists started to rebuild the northern herd in the 1960s, the numbers had fallen to the brink of extinction. Only 250 wood bison were left predominately due to commercial over hunting for prized hides and furs.

The wood bison, characterized by dark brown fur, a massive head with a distinct beard, and a high square shoulder hump, is now protected under the Species at Risk Act. Conservation efforts have lead to a growing population with over 4000 animals in total living in Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, the Yukon and the southwestern Northwest Territories.

In 1997, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) decided to establish a new population of bison into the territory and approached the Canadian Wood Bison Recovery Team for assistance. The team saw this proposal as an opportunity to secure the survival of a wood bison population outside the country and to improve Canada's participation in international efforts to conserve species at risk.

"The Wood Bison Recovery Team supports this project on the basis of contributing to the global security of wood bison by securing the survival of the subspecies in a geographically separate population." said Hal Reynolds, wildlife biologist for Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service and co-chair of the national Wood Bison Recovery Team.

Until 2005, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was unable to provide the required funding for a cargo aircraft to transport the bison. Finally, a major Russian diamond mining company, Alrosa, stepped forward to provide the aircraft to transport the animals. In March 2006, the Government of Canada and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding and a transfer agreement for the wood bison project.