Is it buffalo or bison? Meat labeling goes to Congress as Kansas celebrates conservation

As Kansas wildlife officials are preparing to celebrate 100 years of bison conservation, the congregational delegation is fighting to protect bison from water buffalo.

Despite Kansas children learning to sing about buffalo roaming in the state song "Home on the Range," the bison is not technically a buffalo. Even the state statute establishing the "American buffalo" as the state animal acknowledges the name "Bison americanus."

Even the University of Colorado's mascot is a buffalo named Chip, though the city of Buffalo has the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team.

If you're confused, that's where the buffalo vs. bison meat labeling bill comes in.

Meat labeling pits bison vs. buffalo

There is a lot going on in the bison industry, said Stuart Schrag, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks public lands division director, at a KDWP Commission meeting earlier this month in Garden City.

"From a national scale, we've really been fighting some issues in Washington called truth in labeling," Schrag said. "What I'm talking about there is a lot of pet food companies label their product as buffalo, when in fact it's water buffalo and not pure bison.

"So there's actually some truth in labeling act, it's going through Congress, been introduced into Congress right now to address that. And if you're going to make pet food out of water buffalo, you're going to clearly define that on your labels."

Colloquially, buffalo and bison are often used interchangeably. But to scientific classification, they are not the same. True buffalo are various species in Africa and Asia, including water buffalo. The American buffalo's name derives from a French word that fur trappers used when they came across North America's largest mammal.

To some politicians, "buffalo" should be reserved for bison meat labels.

The bill, S.258, would enact the Truth in Buffalo Labelling Act. It was reintroduced in February by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., co-sponsored the legislation, which has not had a hearing.

Hoeven and Bennet said that water buffalo products are "being deceptively labeled as buffalo," and the bill would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to make sure "consumers aren't misled to believe the product contains bison, which is commonly referred to as buffalo in the United States."

If the bill were to become law, bison products could still be labeled as either bison or buffalo.

Kansas will be celebrating 100 years of bison conservation

While millions of bison once roamed the Great Plains, the species was driven to near extinction largely from extensive hunting — for meat, hides, sport and intentional extermination. The state no longer has any natural bison herds, though there are public conservation areas and private herds.

Bison were re-introduced to the Sandsage Bison Range in October 1924 with one bull and two cows.

"Back in the early 1920s, our agency stood up and took a stance that we were going to help conserve bison numbers in the United States and restore numbers across the country," said Schrag said.

The agency has also had bison herds at other locations across the state, such as the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge near McPherson, which has the largest KDWP herd in the state with 150-175 head of bison. Statewide, KDWP has about 250 head of bison, depending on the time of year. Populations fluctuate, especially during droughts and disease outbreaks.

Between public and private herds plus feedlots, there are an estimated 6,000 head of bison in Kansas, Schrag said.

More: Maxwell Wildlife Refuge home to long-standing bison herd

October 2024 will be KDWP's 100th anniversary of bison conservation, and Schrag said plans are in the works to celebrate the centennial. That will include a National Bison Association summer conference in June at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, co-hosted by KDWP and the Kansas Buffalo Association.

"We've got a lot of bison related activities coming up within the agency in the next coming year," he said.

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Congress wants you to know if buffalo meat is bison or water buffalo