On one California island, bison once numbered in the thousands. But now, the animals are dying off and will soon be completely wiped from the island.
Far from a cause for concern, the decline and eventual extinction of the bison on California's Catalina Island is actually a cause for celebration. Okay, I don't think we break out the wine and streamers for an extinction. But it's also no reason to form a funeral procession either. Let me explain. You see, bison are actually an invasive species on Catalina Island.
It also started more than 100 years ago, and Hollywood played a crucial factor. Producers began to import the animal from other locations to use on the sets of westerns. These films and TV shows were also filmed on Catalina Island as well. Starting with 1925 The Vanishing American, there was a herd of 14 buffalo.
Bison Die Off
However, it didn't take too long for populations to explode. At one point, there was more than a thousand bison on the California island. That large number of the animal transferred into a booming tourist industry. The early 2000s saw bison tours make more than $4.2 million annually. However, since they were an invasive species, the animals threatened the very ecosystem of the island.
That's when scientists and researchers had to step in. Starting in the 1970s, officials began to make a concrete effort to reduce the number of the animals on Catalina Island. They began removing and exporting the animals from the island to the mainland. However, scientists took a more drastic means of stopping the animals.
They started giving birth control vaccines to the female cows. They hoped to stabilize the population down to just 150 animals. However, that didn't work. Although the vaccines were designed to reverse over time, it didn't. So the animals haven't been able to reproduce. There's only 80 bison left with the last birth being in 2013. The animal species will die off in 30 years.
And so the reign of the buffalo on the island will come to an end. It will be with a whimper, not a bang that the last of the buffalo dies.
