Great News For Yellowstone’s Awesome Bison Population

You're probably excited to see the bison when you head to Yellowstone National Park. Some people are so excited that they feel the need to pet them.

That's not a good idea, by the way.

In the early 90s, the bison numbers were so low that they were on the brink of extinction.

Today, that's not the case. In the 2024 count, there were over 4,500 bison in the park before spring calving. That's an incredible recovery, but the problem has been that there are almost too many.

Five years ago, the park's bison population was rapidly growing, so much so that instead of slaughtering some of them, the park began transferring some of those bison to tribal lands through the Bison Conservation Transfer Program.

As bison move north during the winter, some are captured and undergo tests to determine whether they are brucellosis-free. Once cleared, the bison are transferred to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. Once there, they will be sent to other tribes around the country to help restore the bison herds on Tribal lands.

This program has been extremely successful.

Since 2019, over 400 bison have been transferred to 26 Tribes across 12 states - the largest transfer of live Yellowstone bison among Native American Tribes in history.

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Number of bison transferred since 2019

• 2019 - 55
• 2020 - 105
• 2021 - 50
• 2023 - 112
• 2024 - 116

According to Yellowstone Forever, 75% of bison eligible for the program are sent to slaughter because there isn't enough room in the quarantine program. To help this program continue and the bison numbers grow, you can donate to aid the expansion of the quarantine facilities.