About 100 bison are being moved from Catalina Island to South Dakota. From California Bison Sent to New Dakota Home:
About a third of the Southern California island’s 300 bison were shipped off this week to South Dakota, where they will live on two Indian reservations.
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A study released last year showed that bison severely damaged native plants by grazing, wallowing in dirt and rubbing themselves against trees to scratch or shed their thick coats. The animals also spread nonnative plants by carrying seeds in their hair.The animals, however, are extremely popular with tourists, the lifeblood of the island economy.
How did they get on the island. Good question.
Bison have lived on Catalina Island since the 1920s, when 14 animals were brought in for a movie shoot.The finished film, “The Vanishing American,” had no footage of bison. Still, the wooly beasts became a mainstay on Santa Catalina a few years later, after chewing gum mogul William Wrigley Jr. acquired a majority interest in the company that owned the island.