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Europe’s last bison pose a question: what is truly natural?
The bison in Poland’s Bialowieza forest dodged extinction due to a ‘trick of history’. But what would restoring a natural herd really mean?
The bison, says Kaminski, are semi-natural but on the brink of being able to fend entirely for themselves. They live freely in summer. But in winter they are fed by rangers, taming the beasts to the extent that scientists have used CDs of tractor noise to attract them to an expected delivery of hay.
This support is understandable given the bison’s extraordinary story – described as “a trick of history” by nature writer Adam Wajrak. For five centuries or so, up to the first world war, they thrived under the protection of Polish kings and latterly Russian csars, who protected the forest as a royal hunting ground. A herd of up to 1200 roamed and the rulers occasionally sent a bison or two to foreign capitals as gifts. This relict of prehistoric Europe amazed and enthralled, which was lucky.
Over the two years 2009-2010, 48 bison were culled and 45 died of natural causes. About 30 animals are kept in special breeding centre as safety measure, should catastrophe befall the free-living herd. The scientists argue that the feeding should be phased out and the cull should stop, leaving death to claim its victims naturally, and for a simple reason: “Nature is a better selector than humans” in pruning weak animals out of the herd, says Kaminski. Genetic diversity is not visible to the riflemen.
The wild bison of Bialowieza went extinct in 1919 after the great war had destroyed centuries of protection from Polish kings and Russian tsars. The herd was re-established from animals previously sent abroad as royal gifts.
Photograph: David Levene/Guardian
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December of 2014, the headline reads:
Stray bison which charmed rural village in Poland shot dead by local farmers who feared it was seducing all of their cows
Bartek the Bison befriended villagers in Lakiele, northern Poland
The wild animal soon attracted the attention of local herds of cattle
Eventually the cows stopped returning to barns to be milked at night
Farmers hired two hunters to kill animal after calling a village meeting
By JENNIFER SMITH FOR MAILONLINE
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2873732/Stray-bison-charmed-rural-village-Poland-shot-dead-local-farmer-feared-seducing-cows.html
American Bison in Poland What a beautiful place!
Bison Safari
The bison herd in Kurozwęki are American Plain bisons. These animals have never been tamed by humans and remain to his day completely wild. They are a distant cousin of the European bison also known as the Wisent, differing from American bison mainly in size and in their horn positioning. The European Wisent have longer legs, a thinner coat and their horns point straight ahead. The American Plain bison’s mating season is in August/September and the period of gestation is 9 months long. A bison reaches its adult size after 3 years.
Safaris are organized all year round for you to get a closer look at these magnificent beasts.