when in 1909, despite the many newspaper reports to 

 the effect that the prairie fires, then raging in that locahty, 

 had invaded the park, and Hberated the herd, stampeding 

 the animals northwards beyond hope of recovery, it was 

 found that the fence was intact and the herd undisturbed. 



The chasing of the buffalo in the round-ups, and 

 the necessary transferring of some of them from place to 

 place before their final location in Buffalo Park, has 

 naturally militated against any very large natural increase, 

 but, notwithstanding these adverse influences, the gross 

 increase to date is approximately 270 head, against which 

 must be registered a loss of ninety head due to accidents 

 of various kinds. 



There are now in the various national parks of 

 Canada, which are administered through the Dominion 

 Parks Branch of the Department of the Interior, about 

 1,006 head of buffalo, distributed as follows: 27 head at 

 Banff, 61 in Elk Island Park and 918 in Buffalo Park. 

 The animals are in a thriving condition and have taken 

 kindly to their new quarters. 



The knowledge gained in the care of the Banff herd 

 is being successfully applied to the management of the 

 much larger number of animals now distributed in the 

 various national parks, and it is observed with satis- 

 faction in Canada that the efforts of the Canadian Gov- 

 ernment to preserve this, the most conspicuous and 

 characteristic game animal of pioneer days on the western 

 plains, are being followed with appreciative interest, not 

 only by her own citizens, but by many in the neighboring 

 Republic, who, like the members of the American Bison 

 Society desire earnestly the success of any measure 

 which has for its object ''the permanent preservation and 

 increase of the American Bison." 



The Wood Buffalo 



It may be of interest to add a word respecting the 

 Wood Bison in the far north, known as the Salt River 

 Herd, which roam at will the country between Slave 

 River and the Cariboo Mountains, some 700 miles north 



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