HAPPY DAYS FOR THE HERD
The ranks of plains bison at Wanuskewin Heritage Park have grown with the birth of four calves this year, including one who seemed to have had an impecible sense of timing by arriving on Mother’s Day.
When the last of Wanuskewin’s four pregnant bison cows gave birth on Mother’s Day, CEO Darlene Brander found it a fitting end to a journey that had already been full of pleasant surprises.
Sunday’s calf, the only male, wasn’t the only one born on a significant date. One of his siblings was born on Earth Day (April 22) and the other on Red Dress Day (May 5), the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
In early December, six calves from Grasslands National Park set foot on the land for the first time since the species’ near-extirpation more than a century ago.
The park’s leadership wasn’t expecting that in a few weeks everything would be in place for a second group of bison — a bull and four pregnant cows — to arrive from the United States.
The bull, from a wild herd in Yellowstone National Park, makes Wanuskewin the first place in Canada where two bison populations have interacted since they were wild.
Developing a burgeoning conservation herd of plains bison at Wanuskewin Heritage Park has been one of its goals since the park’s conception, Brander said.
“This has been in the making 40 years, from when the elders first envisioned it,” Brander said. “For it to come to fruition and for the bison to get here in December and then for the babies to be born healthy — and three of them on really special days — is all really significant.”
Since 2016, Wanuskewin has been working toward UNESCO World Heritage Site designation through its $40-million Thundering Ahead Campaign.
Bison have always played an integral role in the cultural revitalization at its core.
“They form the future herd of Wanuskewin, and the foundation of the herd, too,” Brander said. “So we’re just thrilled and tickled pink that we’ve been blessed with the bison babies.”
Wahpeton Dakota Nation Elder Cy Standing is part of an elder advisory group for Wanuskewin. Standing said that having the bison so close to the city provides an important educational opportunity.
“We’ve been working for many years to get bison back, and finally they’re there,” he said. “For our First Nations culture, the bison is very important to us; they’re our relatives.
“I think it’s good for children to see the bison and to learn about it, how we relate.”
The two groups are currently in separate pens, but will be allowed to come together in 2021 once the calves are older. Over time, the herd is expected to naturally grow to about 50 animals.
While the park remains closed due to restrictions around COVID -19, Brander said she looks forward to opening back up to the public in the coming weeks.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “It gives me hope with this COVID period that we’re in, and I think it gives a lot of other people hope too, that there’s better days to look forward to.”