Genetically Pure Bison Release Planned For Sunday

<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture</p>
<p>Bison like these are expected to be released onto open space north of Fort Collins.</p>
Picture: Buffalo USDA
Bison like these are expected to be released onto open space north of Fort Collins.

about 1,000 acres of fenced in-land it owns near the Wyoming border.

The coming release on Sunday is the result of a partnership between Colorado State University, Larimer County and The U.S. Department of Agriculture, city spokesman Justin Scharton says.

The bison were bred by means of assistive reproductive technology, using genes from quarantined bison in Yellowstone National Park to create disease-free, genetically pure bison.

One of those diseases, brucellosis, is highly contagious and can infect other animals as well as humans.

“Just getting to the point where a federal agency, a state university and two local governments get to a point where they can agree on a method and location and way to do this, that was a big challenge,” Scharton said.