One poked its head outside the gate, then a few more took some tentative steps beyond their paddock before the 72-member herd galloped across a windswept prairie that hasn't felt the hooves of plains bison in 120 years.
Then came the applause of the dozens who witnessed the historic moment.
Among them, 42-year-old Lyndon Tootoosis, who remembered being told the legend of the disappearing bison as a boy in Poundmaker First Nation, said the sight of pure-blooded bison settling into their 181-square-kilometre home in the southwest corner of Saskatchewan is an inspiration.
"I know a lot of aboriginal people are feeling very good today knowing that mista moostoos is running again in this part of the country," Mr. Tootoosis said, using the Cree words for "big buffalo."
Yesterday's bison release is part of Grasslands National Park's management plan to resume grazing of large herbivores in an area that is one of the few undisturbed grassland habitats left in the country. It's also part of a symbolic effort to restore a species almost annihilated in North America.
An estimated 30 to 75 million plains bison once filled the continent, extending from the northern Canadian Prairies to Mexico. For thousands of years, plains bison were the lifeblood of indigenous peoples on the continent, but the arrival of European settlers brought overhunting, arbitrary killing and habitat destruction, which almost wiped out the species. By the 1880s, only a few hundred bison remained on the continent and just eight animals were left in Canada.
Ranchers embarked on a conservation effort, as did environmentalists and governments, which met with measured success. Today, population estimates vary. The Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN), which is considered a global expert at collecting biological information, figures there are more than 500,000 plains bison in North America. Ottawa has pegged the number as high as 720,000, with perhaps 235,000 in Canada.
Despite the impressive-sounding comeback, the vast majority of the plains bison on the continent are privately owned, and the bulk are managed for commercial production. Many pure bloodlines have also been lost through breeding with cattle. Pure, wild bison have found a place in Canada, but the numbers are small and the gene pool is narrow.
There are about 1,500 animals in three free-ranging herds -- at Pink Mountain in northeastern British Columbia (which is outside their original range), at Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan, and at the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.
There are a few hundred others that are either semi-wild or captive in public parks, including Elk Island National Park near Edmonton, which has become the breeding ground in Canada's effort to bring back the species. The animals in Grasslands came from Elk Island last December to acclimatize to the new surroundings in a 16.2-hectare holding area. Now, the herd will live between the wires of a much larger fence, which is designed to allow antelope to pass under and deer to jump over.
The plains bison, which can grow to a weight of more than 800 kilograms, and measure two metres tall at the shoulder and almost four metres in length, are often wrongly called buffalo and confused with their relative, the larger wood bison. Although bison and buffalo belong to the same family, buffalo are native to Africa and Asia.
The Grasslands project holds promise, said Cormack Gates, a professor of environmental science at the University of Calgary and co-chairman of the IUCN's bison specialist group. But as North America's bison whisperer, Prof. Gates said the country, indeed the continent, needs a new vision.
"We are not in good shape here in Canada," he said.
By the end of next month, Prof. Gates hopes to finish drafting a conservation plan, including guidelines for reintroductions and management of public and private herds. It would also include strategies for dealing with governments, private landowners and aboriginals.
