On a parallel with the efforts by Rewilding Europe and its partners to bring back European bison to the Tarcu Mounatins, other great work is being done in Romania for this endangered species. For example in the Vanatori Neamt Nature Park, which is also a member of the European Rewilding Network.
On June 24th 2014, six female bison donated by the Aspinall Foundation in the UK were successfully released in the Vanatori Neamt Nature Park in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania. The release went well. Cameramen and photographers captured the exciting moments when the females made their first steps outside the enclosure that had been their home during the last two months. According to plan, a forester opened the gate to the wild and by making noise, the animals set off one by one. Gradually, the bison females disappeared among the trees…
The released animals were captive-bred bison from Port Lympne and Howletts Wild Animal Park, Kent, the Highland Wildlife Park, Inverness-shire, and the Fota Wildlife Park, Cork, Ireland. These animals were kept for two months in a pre-release enclosure with low human impact. Gradually, the animals accommodated to the new local conditions, started to graze fresh grass and to browse leaves and twigs.
The release of these donated animals from the UK and Ireland represented the third release in that area, after the first steps were taken in 2012 and 2013 with ten animals and the free roaming bison population in this part of Romania now counts 17 animals.
“We can express our elation in relation to the success of our project, after two years from starting the release efforts, the number of bison individuals has now tripled!”, states the local team.
We send our wildest congratulations from Rewilding Europe and wish the Vanatori Neamt team best of success.
Keep up your fantastic work!
Please check out the rewilding work that is being done all across Europe by the members in the European Rewilding Network: https://rewildingeurope.com/european-rewilding-network/map/