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Wildlife Featured in this article
- Plains bison
Alaska curtails bison hunt after dozens drown in pond
Thin ice may have been the culprit
Wildlife officials in Alaska have limited hunting permits on bison after dozens of the large ungulates drowned in a pond. Wildlife managers were tracking the bison (Bison bison bison) using GPS collars in central Alaska south of Delta Junction when a number of the collars stopped working in the spring. When one finally sent out a signal, staff with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game went to investigate and found nearly 40 dead and decomposing bison in and around a small pond. They speculated that the animals may have fallen through thin ice and drowned. As a result, the state agency reduced the permits for bison harvest by 56, allowing only 79 permits for harvest, and restricted harvest to males.