When Utah purchased the island in 1981, reports showed there were about 250 head of buffalo. Wildlife managers suggested they were "stunted," or small for buffalo, because of inbreeding. Big bulls were brought in from other areas to add new bloodlines. The results are that the island buffalo are big, fat and healthy.

Bates believes the island herd now numbers between 700 and 750. The carrying capacity of the island is around 500 animals. Roughly 250 buffalo were cut from the herd during medical tests last weekend and will be sold at auction. Going price is around $825 for a 2-year-old buffalo. Most are sold for their meat. Some are sold into private herds.

Bates said he has no trouble selling the island animals.

One reason is the animals are among the purest strains of buffalo in the country.

A few years back a biologist from Texas A&M, who conducted studies on the island buffalo, said he found that some of the early settlers hybridized buffalo and cattle, and, as a result, the cattle gene is now found in some buffalo. A group of buffalo he checked from the island showed no sign of the cattle gene, which, he said, "makes them pure buffalo."

He said he also found through testing that other than diet, there were few differences between the bison 150 years back — when it was estimated they numbered around 60 million — and the bison on the island.

It has also been discovered that the Antelope Island buffalo have an extra allele in their genetic makeup.

Bates said he's not sure how this came about or of what benefits it offers, "But, we're doing research to answer these questions. We do know it's unique to buffalo on the island."

Last Friday, crews of park staff and volunteers began administering annual buffalo checkups. One-by-one the buffalo were moved down a long chute into a chamber with hydraulic, steel fingers that slowly closed in around and hugged the buffalo.

Held in place, the bison were weighed, vaccinated against brucellosis, a disease found in cattle that has been passed to buffalo, and released. Cows were checked by a veterinarian for pregnancy.

Consensus was that the buffalo were in excellent shape. Some of the younger buffalo showed weight gains of 150 to 200 pounds since their last checkup.

Those to be sold were kept in the pens to await the auctioneer. The main herd was held in the pens for a few days and then released back onto the island where it will roam, undisturbed, until next year when the whole process will be played out again — roundup, checkup and checkout.

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