Catalina Island bison benefit from birth control efforts

Bison have been roaming the Santa Catalina Island since the 1920s. At one time they numbered more than 600.

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A new study published this month by the Catalina Island Conservancy has found a successful, cost-effective way to maintain the bison population, and it may be more similar to humans than you'd think.

If you think of bison, you probably think of Yellowstone National Park, but they're here in California, too, on Catalina Island.

In the 1920s, 14 of them were brought to island for a movie, and with no natural predators, their numbers rapidly increased. At one point, as many as 600 of the shaggy beasts roamed the island 25 miles off the Los Angeles coast. There were about 350 in 2003 when a study found that they had poor nutrition and health.

To control the numbers, bison were once shipped out for slaughter then later sent to Indian reservations for breeding.

But a new study published this month by the Catalina Island Conservancy has found a successful, cost-effective way to maintain the bison population, and it may be more similar to humans than you'd think.

Those who tend the herd now say that the birth control vaccine known as PZP has proven the best way to keep population levels at a healthy level.

"We learned that if we chose to have a herd, we should reduce the number to 150 since it's better for the bison and it's better for the habitat," said Ann Muscat, president and CEO of the conservancy, a nonprofit group that owns much of the island. "They're of great cultural and historical value to the island and we're very pleased that the program is working out as well as it is."

Calvin Duncan is a wildlife biologist with the Catalina Island Conservancy and helped lead the research for this study. He joins Take Two to talk more about the birth control efforts and how they're benefitting both the island and the animal.

With contributions from the Associated Press