Check Out SF’s New “Bison Cam” Live from GG Park
For the first time, fans of Golden Gate Park’s resident bison can connect with the beloved beasts from home, thanks to two live webcams in their paddock.
View the “Bison Cam” live from Golden Gate Park– Sorry! the live feed has gone away as of 2023
The bison cams offer a rare opportunity to observe the all-female herd as five longtime residents—Betsy, Bailey, Bellatrix, Buttercup, and Bambi—get to know their five young roommates, 1-year-olds acquired in March in honor of Golden Gate Park’s 150th anniversary.
But don’t expect a grand show of movement and daring feats when watching the bison. They tend to keep to themselves and really don’t engage in any exciting activities. They appear in the standing position for most of the day and sometimes sit about.
If you are extremely lucky, one of the bison may slowly amble from the field to the corral. Amazing.
The bison cams can be viewed on Golden Gate Park’s 150th anniversary website where visitors of all ages can also explore the history of bison in the park and enjoy fun learning activities, listen to podcasts and watch videos about the bison. Visitors will also be able to enjoy Golden Gate Park’s other webcams, including penguins, stingrays, coral reef and other sea life at the California Academy of Sciences.
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The social herbivores can be seen grazing together, wallowing in the dirt, or, like many a Golden Gate Park visitor, simply enjoying a stroll or a rest on the grass.
The five yearlings that arrived earlier in the year were the first new bison added to the paddock in eight years, bringing the total number of bison in the paddock to 10 females. The bison were purchased through a $50,000 donation to the San Francisco Zoological Society by Richard Blum, philanthropist, investment banker, and husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Among the youngsters is Sesqui, a bison named for the park’s sesquicentennial and who sports an ear tag number of 150.
The bison herd is cared for by staff from the San Francisco Zoo, while Recreation and Parks Department gardeners maintain the enclosure. An emblem of the American west, bison had been driven nearly to extinction by the time Golden Gate Park’s herd was established.
These huge, shaggy Great Plains denizens have been a beloved institution in the park since 1892. The herd’s first home was in the park’s eastern end, near where the Music Concourse now stands, but in 1899 they were moved to the Bison Paddock, the meadow where they live today, just west of Spreckels Lake along John F. Kennedy Drive.
