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Bison born at South Park Buffalo Preserve

By Paul Paterra staff Writer ppaterra@observer-Reporter.Com 3 min read
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Photos: Courtesy of Tim Foster

Big Head sticks out his tongue for a treat at the South Park Buffalo Preserve.

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Courtesy of Tim Foster

Big Head enjoys a strawberry.

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Courtesy of Tim Foster

Diane, the new bison at the South Park Buffalo Reserve, is shown with her mother, Rosie, moments after being born.

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Courtesy of Tim Foster

Diane is the newest arrival at the South Park Buffalo Preserve, born April 4.

The population at the South Park Buffalo Preserve has grown by one.

On April 4, a bison named Rosie gave birth to Diane, so-named after the observer who noticed Rosie alone in the wooded area.

“Diane’s motherly instinct just knew what was happening,” reads a quote on the Friends of the South Park Buffalo Preserve Facebook page. “A beautiful red calf quickly followed about 20 minutes later.”

Diane Foster – the baby bison’s namesake – and her husband, Tim, live near the preserve and volunteer there, taking food two or three times a week to feed the bison.

Tim Foster said they work with some of the local grocery stores to acquire fruits and vegetables to feed their bovine friends.

“They’re getting so much more of a healthy diet,” he said. “With them having babies, you can see this is helping with their health.”

Foster said they initially became involved when they worked to stop plans to rezone the area for high-density housing.

“One of the things we got concerned about was the buffalo preserve,” he said. “People forget about them. They’ve been here for almost 100 years. So many more people need to know about this. Just doing a couple of the news stories from there and doing the Facebook page that we started have put them back on the map a little bit. It’s been such an amazing pleasure for us to get to know these animals.”

Buffalo have roamed in South Park for some time. In 1927, an Allegheny County commissioner purchased 18 buffalo and brought them to the area amid fear of the animals’ extinction.

They have been a staple of the area ever since. Currently, 11 bison call South Park home.

“They’re such a tame animal,” Foster said. “We can feed them. Big Head, who’s the big male, will take strawberries out of my hand better than any dog you would try to give a treat to.”

The Fosters were at the preserve April 4 when Rosie wandered off into the woods by herself.

“We were the first ones to see her go off on her own,” Tim said. “We were walking down the hill to leave and saw her walking down to the woods by herself. My wife, a mom of twins, said, ‘She’s going to have that baby.'”

They were informed by the caretaker, a gentleman known as “Buffalo Bob,” that it could be a few days to a week before the baby was born.

However, they went to the woods to check on Rosie and the birth was already underway.

“It was pretty quick,” Tim said. “We had a buffalo baby that was up taking its first steps. To see the baby come out with that reddish color, it was just amazing.”

Some names were bandied about for the new bison, but Buffalo Bob declared her to be “Diane.”

“We do a lot of volunteer work, but we don’t do it for the accolades,” Tim said. “It’s really cool. It’s well-deserved. It’s funny to hear people up there say, ‘There’s little Diane.'”

Since the new bison is a female, she can remain in the preserve. Males are moved after about a year to protect the herd.

Buffalo Bob wants just one male on hand to eliminate the possibility of fights between the males.

The population is expected to increase in the near future, as two more females are due to deliver soon.

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