The wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) had been effectively extinct in the wild by the early twentieth century, reduced to a single herd of under 300 animals near Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. A 1957 survey confirmed the survival of a genetically pure population in a remote corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, which became the foundation for subsequent recovery programs. By 2011, Canadian herds had rebounded to roughly 10,000 animals — a figure that prompted reclassification from "endangered" to "threatened" under Canada's Species at Risk Act.
The wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) had been effectively extinct in the wild by the early twentieth century, reduced to a single herd of under 300 animals near Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. A 1957 survey confirmed the survival of a genetically pure population in a remote corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, which became the foundation for subsequent recovery programs. By 2011, Canadian herds had rebounded to roughly 10,000 animals — a figure that prompted reclassification from "endangered" to "threatened" under Canada's Species at Risk Act.