Wisents have returned into the wild in Romania and in central Russia
In Europe there arose two new populations of free living wisents last year: in Romania and in central Russia. The information was heard at an international conference Wisent in the Carpathians, where also some representatives of European Wildlife organization took part in. The conference was organized by European Bison Friends Society in the mountains Biesczady in the south-east of Poland at the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the founding of a free living population in that area nearby the boarders with the Ukraine.
In Romania there was released the first group of wisents into the wild in Vanatori Neamt Natural Park in spring 2012. This spring there was released another five-member wisent group into nature in the same area. Altogether there are 112 animals in all Romanian breeding centres. The semi-free populations represent 75 percent of the whole Romanian wisent population, which creates a solid basis for new reintroduction.
In central Russia a group of wisents was released into the wild in the Bryansk Region. In the same area wisents were first released in 1997 but because of a lot of causes the project struggled with troubles, and that is why the animals were taken into other areas in 2002. The present project develops well, in 2012 there lived ten wisents in the Bryansk Region.
The wisent population development in Belarus was probably the most optimistic. Since 1994 there have been gradually captured 95 wisents in the Belarusian part of Bialowieza National Park which were distributed into various country parts. There thus arose four new and successful populations, thanks to which the Belarusian population has risen from 374 up to present 1156 since 1994. The biggest populations of freely living wisents are in Belarus (1156), Poland (1080) and Russia (537).
“Although wisent states are rising, the protection of these animals still deserves big attention. Therefore European Wildlife organization is working on the project which should bring the wisent back into central Europe,” stated Dalibor Dostal, the director of European Wildlife.
