AVALON, Calif. (AP) — Birth control for bison?
Conservationists are inoculating female bison on Santa Catalina Island with a yearly contraceptive.
The Catalina Island Conservancy is trying to keep the herd of huge, shaggy animals to an environmentally manageable 150. The feral animals are descended from 14 American bison that a film crew shipped over in 1924 for a Western. They were never used.
As many as 600 once roamed the island, located about 25 miles south of the Los Angeles coast. In the past, their numbers were kept down by culling and deportation. About 150 were shipped to a reservation last month at a cost of $100,000.
The five-year experimental contraception program is considered a cheaper alternative that's less stressful for the bison.
