European bison found poisoned, decapitated on Spanish reserve

Police investigating attack on small herd at Valdeserrillas reserve in Valencia after staff discover headless body of dominant male

Sam Jones in Madrid

Tuesday 20 September 2016 12.58 BST Last modified on Thursday 22 September 2016 09.01 BST 

Spanish police are investigating an attack on a herd of recently reintroduced European bison that left one animal decapitated, three missing and several more apparently poisoned.

Officers were called to the Valdeserrillas reserve in Valencia on Friday after the discovery of the headless body of Sauron, the dominant male of a small herd of bison that had been brought to eastern Spain over the past year. 

Staff and police said they believed the herd was poisoned so that their heads could be cut off and sold as trophies.

Carlos Álamo, the manager of the reserve, said he noticed something was wrong when he went to check on the animals last Wednesday. Not only were the bison in a different area to the one they usually occupied, but they were skittish and ran away when he approached. Staff put the behavioural change down to the hot weather, but two days later Álamo found Sauron’s decapitated remains.

“He was called Sauron after the Lord of the Rings character because he was the biggest and the most powerful,” Rodolfo Navarro, a spokesman for the reserve, told the Guardian. “He was a beautiful animal that weighed nearly 800kg [1,764lb]. He was sort of the symbol of the reserve.”

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Possible disease outbreak kills bison in Romania

Three out of 17 European Bison that were reintroduced to the Southern Carpathians last May have died over past few weeks.

What killed the bison is currently unknown, but it is suspected that the deaths could be caused by an outbreak of the cattle disease ‘Blue tongue’, which appeared a couple of months ago in nearby domestic cattle. This could have been spread to the bison via mosquito bite. Medical results due to be released this week will confirm whether Blue tongue is the culprit or not. 

Positive news is that the remaining bison in the herd appear to be stable and healthy, and are showing no signs of illness. Rewilding Europe remains optimistic that the bison will eventually be re-established in this region.

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European Bison to Be Released into Wild

By Megan Gannon, News Editor | April 28, 2014 10:12am ET

Bison went extinct in Europe nearly 100 years ago, but conservationists are taking small steps to bring the animals back into the wild.

Seven female bison raised in captivity in the British Isles will be reintroduced to a forest in Romania, officials with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) announced.

The creatures arrived at Vanatori Neamt Nature Park, Romania, on April 25. They will spend the next several weeks in a large enclosure to get used to their new home before being released.

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European bison released into the wild in Germany

European bison roaming in Germany for the first time for 400 years

April 2013. On 11 April 2013, a fence was cut down in the Bad Berleburg region of Germany. Nothing unusual in that, except that cutting the fence allowed a small herd of European bison (sometimes known as wisent) to become the first free roaming herd in Western Europe for 400 years. 

The opening of the fence released a small herd, consisting of one adult bull, five cows and two calves, into a 10,000 hectare forest. Two of the animals are fitted with radio transmitters to allow scientists to track and follow them. The animals will roam entirely free in the large forests of the Rothaar Mountains around Bad Berleburg in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is hoped that the herd will grow to about 25 animals. The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) called the project a ground-breaking step in nature conservation of Germany.

The herd has been kept in an 88 hectare enclosure for the last three years and has been intensively studied by scientists and universities. They have studied the behavior between man and bison, they have analyzed the role of the bison in the ecosystem and the impacts on biodiversity and also examined the impact on forestry. The conclusion was that: ‘bison are indeed great and powerful, but also very peace loving and shy animals, and present no risk to humans.' More information can be found on the German bison website.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/germany-bison.html

European bison relocated to the Caucasus Mountains

March 2013. Ten bison have been relocated to Tseysky Nature Sanctuary in Russia's North Ossetia region, and eight more bison were taken to the Teberdinsky Reserve.

In October, 2012 eight bison arrived in four wooden cages at the Teberdinsky reserve having travelled more than 1500 kilometres from the Oksky Reserve in the Ryazan region. Despite the long journey, the bison left the crates quickly and ran deep into the enclosure before beginning to graze on the succulent Caucasus grass.

Courtesy of WWF Caucasus

The bison remained in quarantine in the enclosure for one month before they were released into the wild in the Caucasus Mountains in November. One female bison was provided with a satellite collar so that WWF can track the herd location.

Genetic diversity
Before the arrival of these animals, only 13 bison inhabited the Teberdinsky Reserve. The group is in need of gene refreshments as no new animals have been brought to the sanctuary for more than 40 years.

Tseysky Nature Sanctuary
Also in October, ten bison arrived to Tseysky Nature Sanctuary in North Ossetia from Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve near Moscow. There are already more than 40 bison in the sanctuary, but for the long-term conservation of the bison it is necessary to refresh the gene pool of this group and introduce new animals to the herd.

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/caucasus-bison.html