Eight young bison were released into the wild in Turmon natural reserve in North Ossetia. This is a part of a re-population effort aimed at restoring the numbers of bison in Russia.
For almost a century, European bison have been endangered. The last wild Caucasian bison were shot by poachers in 1926. All bison living today in Russia come from only twelve species that survived in zoos and reserves.
“Bison are now in the Red Book of Russia. Our goal is to ‘create enough animals’ so that their condition is valued the way that they are not included in the Red Book,” World Wildlife Fund (WWF) representative Roman Mnatsakanov told Reuters.
On Thursday, specialists released a group that included three males and five females who will hopefully have kids, Mnatsakanov said.
“Usually we release groups in which half on the animals are females and half are males. But now, here in Turmon, we try to bring more females. A male, let’s say, achieves his potential with more females and females allow to have offspring.”
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Thank you for the article. I live in Russia and love animals. Really, bison are rare in Russia. God bless you!