American bison are more closely related to cattle than water buffalo, but early European settlers called the unfamiliar animals “buffelo'' and the name stuck.

        When the first Europeans arrived in North America, buffalo occupied about 70 percent of the continent, including Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and other states east of the Mississippi. Historians estimate buffalo numbered 30 to 70 million before the advance of settlers. By 1830, buffalo had disappeared from the eastern region and by 1900, the number had dwindled to only 300 animals in the United States. Disease, food shortages and over-hunting is blamed for the buffalo's rapid decline.

        The warden of Yellowstone National Park, Charles J. Jones, began the effort to save the buffalo in 1902 by buying private herds and raising the animals in the park. As president of the American Bison Society, Theodore Roosevelt established more federal herds in other western states beginning in 1905. Several American Indian tribes also started private herds on their reservations.

        Now, there are an estimated 350,000 buffalo in the United States, most privately owned. Sam Albrecht, executive director of the National Bison Association in Denver, says his 2,400 members raise buffalo in all 50 states and 20 countries.

        Although buffalo have been raised privately for over 200 years, Mr. Albrecht says commercial production began in earnest during the 1960s. Private herds are growing about 15 to 20 percent a year, he says, as more consumers hear about the nutritional benefits of buffalo and demand for the meat increases.

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