European WILDLIFE

Farm breeding of the American bison pose a risk for wild Wisents

Thirty American bisons escaped in the past days from a farm breeding in the west part of the Czech Republic. Although the herd managed to be caught, the case showed the risks connected with the breeding of these large herbivores in Europe.

Just in three countries bordering on the Czech Republic, in Poland, in Slovakia and in Germany there are, in fact, wild populations of the European bison – Wisent.  A reintroduction of these endangered …

The European red deer in Central Europe is endangered by the sika deer from Asia

The population of the European red deer is threatened with extinction in some parts of Central Europe. The cause is not an excessive hunting but the hybridization with an introduced Asian species of the Japanese sika deer.

It was brought for example to the western parts of the Czech Republic at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries when the import of exotic species of game became very popular among hunters. The animals were …

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 …

The moose in Central Europe are endangered. A rescue programme starts

Mainly poaching, shooting in Austria, suitable biotopes wastage and collisions on the roads and railways cause a decrease of the moose number in Central Europe. Conservation organization European Wildlife has therefore started a rescue programme for this significant animal species.

A very bad situation is mainly in the Czech Republic where the moose population has been constantly falling since the 80s of the last century. In recent years there became extinct three of five populations …

Wisents in Slovakia: the population has increased three times since 2004

There have already been twelve young animals born in a wild wisent population in Slovakia which was founded thanks to a reintroduction project in 2004. First five wisents were released into the wild at the end of 2004 in National Park Poloniny in the east of Slovakia. Since that time the population has increased up to more than a triple.

„In the year 2013 we are watching a herd of fifteen wisents and also two …