Lehigh Commissioners gave final approval recently for transfer of a male bison from Trexler Nature Preserve to the Catoctin Zoo and Wildlife Preserve.

The male bison (Tag #LC005) is the result of a managed breeding program started in 2011; he was born in 2013.

The young male would predictably challenge the elder male bison and cause problems for the herd. Thus, he got his ticket to a new future with a herd in Maryland.

When he arrives, he will be greeted by an existing herd of five females that range in age from one and half years to seven years old. They all live in a 5 to 6-acre enclosure and have access to a larger pasture of about 35 acres, according to a spokesman for the Catoctin Zoo and Wildlife Preserve.

Lehigh County’s Department of General Services has responsibility for maintaining the Preserve’s bison herd, which numbers 12 bison, also frequently but incorrectly referred to as buffalo.

The Trexler Nature Preserve is one of the many legacies of General Henry C. Trexler (1854–1933).