Mabel, Robert, Junior, Wild Bill and their kin have roamed Deussen Park for almost four decades and now make up what appears to be Harris County's largest bison herd. Soon, however, the iconic American beasts will take to the open road in trailers headed for North Texas and a new home on the range.

Spurred in part by the ongoing drought and a wish to see the animals in a more fitting habitat, Commissioner El Franco Lee has decided to ship his 11 bison to a ranch near the Oklahoma border that is run by a nonprofit.

His request was approved by the Commissioners Court on Tuesday.

"This is really not range land for buffalo," Lee's park superintendent, Paul Mauricio, said this week, as dead grass in the bison pen crunched underfoot. "Where they're going they're going to have 6,400 acres to roam."

The drought has killed many of the trees in the park's bison pen, as well as much of the grass. Lately, the precinct has fed the herd with pricey hay shipped from Florida, along with the usual corn pellets and cottonseed.

It does not help that bison tend to rip out the roots of the vegetation they graze, making it harder to maintain the pasture, Mauricio said.

Caring for the herd takes about $8,500 a year, Mauricio said, so cost was not the problem.

Lee, however, said he did not want the herd to reach a "crisis situation" with their water supply. He also was concerned about inbreeding. Given that the whole herd started with two bison brought from Bear Creek Pioneers Park in 1973, Lee joked that he did not want any five-legged bison walking around.

"It's an ecological deal to keep them healthy, keep them safe and make sure we're doing the right thing," the commissioner said.

10 bison left in county

The herd's departure will halve the local bison population. Commissioner Steve Radack keeps a pair at Pioneers Park and another pair is at Armand Bayou Nature Center. The most recent agriculture census, in 2007, counted just six bison on private farms countywide.

The herd is headed to Medicine Mound Ranch in Hardeman County, owned by the Summerlee Foundation, a nonprofit whose focus is on animal protection and Texas history.

Alton Hoke, a foundation employee who lives on the ranch and has cared for the animals there for 16 years, said he does not anticipate any trouble in introducing the 11 newcomers to the 60 bison already there.

"We'll hold them in here pretty tight until we're sure they find where the water is and everything," Hoke explained. "In time they'll just get in and mix with the herd like anybody else."

The foundation does not breed its animals - which include longhorn cattle, wild hogs and donkeys - so the Houston bison will be fixed when they arrive, according to the foundation's president, John Crain.

Will be missed

Deussen Park workers say they are sad to see the herd go. Area manager Don Hathorn said a few dozen people stop by on weekdays to look at the herd, and perhaps a few hundred on weekends; sometimes buses of schoolchildren visit.

Clifton Antoine has fed the bison most mornings for the past seven years, and has names for all 11.

Betsy nudges him out of the way as he dumps feed into the trays, he said. Wild Bill is rambunctious and does a lot more rolling in the dirt. It's best to clear out when Robert, the alpha male, shakes his head up and down; other times the old bull will eat out of Antoine's hand.

"We've been around them so long you feel an affinity with them," Hathorn said. "But as far as where they're headed, there's a little joy there, too. With 6,400 acres, they're going to be like the buffalo in the old days. They're going to be able to run the range."

mike.morris@chron.com