The refuge says there are now nine newborn bison calves hoofing it around Neal Smith
NEED TO KNOW
- A rare white bison calf was recently born at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa
- White bison are sacred in many Native American religions and are rarely seen in the wild
- Conservation efforts have helped American bison recover from near extinction in the 1890s to around 500,000 today
An Iowa wildlife refuge is celebrating the arrival of a special bison calf.
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, Iowa, announced on May 4 that a rare white bison was spotted on its land. The white bison is a newborn calf, one of several baby bison born at the refuge this year.
"We're thrilled to welcome a new addition to the prairie—a bison calf with an unusual whitish coat. This is a rare sight, as most newborn bison calves are usually reddish-brown," the refuge wrote in a Facebook post.
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge shared on May 3 that at least nine baby bison are "thriving in the refuge's tallgrass prairie!"
Credit: Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge/Facebook
Commonly known as the buffalo, American bison are heavily dependent on conservation efforts for survival, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Once bountiful on the American plains, the animal was nearly hunted into extinction by the 1890s. Today, there are around 500,000 American bison, according to PBS.
White bison are considered sacred and hold great significance in many Native American religions, according to the National Park Service.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently attempting to move bison from Montana's public lands, PEOPLE reported this week.
Conservation nonprofit American Prairie is pushing back against BLM's latest proposal to prohibit bison from grazing in Phillips County, Mont.
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The nonprofit says they've begun to "incrementally purchase approximately 700,000 acres of private lands that will stitch together existing public lands," to eventually cover a 3.2 million-acre ecosystem, around 5,000 square miles, according to its website.
The organization intends to allow the "near threatened" and "ecologically extinct" bison to utilize the space to "fulfill their former ecological role," and increase the size of the conservation herds.
If BLM's proposal is approved, American Prairie will have to move 900 bison from the previously permitted grazing sites, according to The New York Times.
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