PAKALA VILLAGE, KAUAI (HawaiiNewsNow) – The bison that once roamed a wet, lush pasture on Kauai\u2019s North Shore are now making a new home on the island\u2019s dry West Side — and could provide an economic boost to an area that could definitely use it.<\/p>\n
Many remember an iconic photo of an American Bison on the Hanalei shoreline. It was one of dozens that got loose during a historic flood in April 2018.<\/p>\n
Three months ago, that same herd went through another roundup. Ranch owner Stuart Wellington led a team from Hanalei Bison Ranch, transporting 108 bison in a convoy of 17 trucks and trailers to a plateau near Waimea in West Kauai.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little bit on the drier side, so it does resemble the Great Plains, but the difference is the backdrop — you have Niihau on your left and Waimea Canyon on your right,\u201d said Wellington.<\/p>\n
The move was done in a single day — after two years of planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put in plenty work. Plenty guardrails, high beams — we had to pound everything, weld everything up,\u201d said Wellington\u2019s son, Austin, in a video that documented the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of work, all for one day of use,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The bison are now getting used to their new home — 300 acres of Gay and Robinson ag land above Pakala Village. <\/p>\n
Their presence is seen as a way to keep the land productive — and profitable — in an area once dominated by sugar cane.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really want it to have an impact on the West Side economy,\u201d said Stuart Wellington. \u201cSince the plantation left, the West Side\u2019s economy has struggled.\u201d<\/p>\n
The owners say the herd has taken well it its new environs. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur intentions are to get a tour, an ag tour, going,\u201d Wellington said. \u201cWe want to share this magnificent animal. I mean, they\u2019re totally awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ranch also wants to increase the herd size because of the high demand for their meat. <\/p>\n
Wellington said for now, he\u2019ll let them roam. He plans to see how the bison adapt to the new land for the rest of the year before starting up any tours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel that the bison is a bonus, that you wouldn\u2019t expect it in the middle of the Pacific. But while you\u2019re here, you might as well look at them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PAKALA VILLAGE, KAUAI (HawaiiNewsNow) – The bison that once roamed a wet, lush pasture on Kauai\u2019s North Shore…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3426,3425,3420,3424,3422,3421,3423,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-2495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-american-bison","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-bison","11":"tag-farmland","12":"tag-hanalei","13":"tag-kauai","14":"tag-roam","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114721677060424016","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}