In 1924, fourteen bison were transported to Catalina Island,
22 miles off the coast of southern California. The bison were meant to be
extras in the movie, “The Vanishing American” with Richard Dix and Noah Beery.
(Gary Cooper was also in this film, but he, like the bison, was just an
uncredited extra.) If any scenes were filmed with the animals, they never made
it into the movie. There was no room in the studio’s budget to return the bison
to the mainland, so they stayed on the island. Over the years, the herd grew to
over 600 – too many for the small island’s fragile ecosystem. The Catalina
Island Conservancy took charge of the bison in the 1970’s. Their goal is to keep
the herd at a manageable size. Some were sold at auction; others were shipped to
South Dakota. The remaining bison get birth control injections. The last bison
calf born on Catalina Island was in 2013.
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