1. The bison still are having repairs
The current repairs of the structural elements of the internal fence of the pen of the Central Bison Nursery are nearing completion. For several years now, the Khakassian Republican branch of the All-Russian public organization “Russian Geographical Society” and the largest manufacturer of chemical products, the Limited Liability Company “TD Grass”, have been making a significant contribution to the development of the infrastructure of the Central Bison Nursery. These well-known organizations in 2024 for the first time joined forces to effectively help the only reserve located in the Moscow region. The Khakassian Republican branch of the All-Russian public organization “Russian Geographical Society” is one of the youngest divisions of the Society. It mainly assists in the development of a system of specially protected natural areas in the Republic of Khakassia and in the south of Siberia, but for the Central Bison Nursery, located in the Central region and the very first in the country, charitable assistance has been provided annually since 2021. The second sponsor – the company “GRASS”, the largest manufacturer of household and car chemicals, products for professional cleaning.The company is aware of its impact on the environment, and therefore takes an active part in many environmental programs, including the project to return to nature the last wild bull in Europe – the bison. Thanks to the financial resources provided to the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve by these two sponsoring organizations, it became possible to carry out work on the current repair of the structural elements of the internal fence of pen No. VI of the Central Bison Nursery, including the reconstruction of 7 retractable feeders for compound feed, 6 feeders for hay and 1 feeder for salt, installed under a common canopy. At present, the contractor has already carried out most of the work, in accordance with the technical specifications, and plans to complete it in the shortest possible time. The bison are eagerly awaiting the completion of the reconstruction to test the strength of the new feeders and, in general, inspect the quality of the work done!
2. Plein airs continue
On October 10, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve once again welcomed students from the Municipal Budgetary Institution of Additional Education “Children’s Art School named after A.A. Buzovkin”. Young artists continue their plein air sessions as part of the art project “Reserve: Seasons”. Summer is over, and it’s time to depict golden autumn. Armed with easels and securely fastened paper or canvas in them, the children completely immersed themselves in creativity for several hours. The nature of the Central Estate of the Reserve became their model, and for some who wanted – the rich exposition of the Museum of Nature. Having finished with the paintings, the young people drank tea and visited the traditional excursion “Road to the Bison” in the Central Bison Nursery. Many took with them the necessary supplies for sketching and in every free minute made schematic sketches of huge bison busy with an afternoon rest. At school, artists will add color, background and details to the paintings, and then the sketches become finished works of art. This is not our last meeting, winter is ahead, which is so beautiful in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve.The guys will still come here again for inspiration and beautiful views.
3. Accounting of Galliformes
What birds do we associate with the remote northern forests? Of course, with the Galliformes – wood grouse and hazel grouse! In the Moscow region, these species were once widespread, but with the current pace of development, scattered habitats are preserved only on the outskirts of the region. Last weekend, a census of Galliformes was conducted in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, located on the southern border of the Moscow region. Monitoring the numbers of wood grouse and hazel grouse is very important in modern conditions. Therefore, groups of counters – employees of the scientific department and the security department, ornithologists and volunteers, on Saturday, October 12, walked along 11 routes, each of which was about 10 km long. The route reports recorded encounters with wood grouse, both males and females, and also repeatedly noted the singing of hazel grouse and recorded their visual observations. The day was fine, the forest was beautiful. This affected the ungulates, which, obviously wanting to help with the count, went out on routes to listen to hazel grouse and look for wood grouse. The counters noted encounters with roe deer, elk, red European deer, and one of the groups managed to observe a whole herd of sika deer. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the reserve retains its significance as a refuge for forest sauna, both for gallinaceous birds, whose numbers are stable here, as well as for other forest inhabitants.
4. The best environmental educators in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve
Specialists from the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve took part in the All-Russian competition for employees of specially protected natural areas and other state institutions in the field of environmental education and educational tourism “Best in the Profession: Environmental Education”. The founder of the competition is the Foundation “Reserve Embassy” with the organizational support of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation. At the competition, the Department of Environmental Education of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve was represented by the chief specialist Irina Pushkova. The competition included various nomination reflecting the multifaceted work of the Department of Environmental Education: environmental education work with children, work on the development of educational tourism, development and implementation of new educational programs, methods, strategic approaches, work with the media, maintaining the official website of the institution, work in social networks, the use of environmental education methods and techniques in related specialties of specially protected natural areas (with the department of protection, science, etc.). Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve nominated for the competition the project “Memorable dates of the Institution in 2022-2023 – as a key factor in effective environmental education and conservation of natural and cultural heritage in a specially protected natural area” in the nomination “See and Save” – for the best work on the development of educational tourism as a factor in effective environmental education and conservation of natural and cultural heritage in a specially protected natural area. Applications were accepted until June 20, 2024, and the reserve specialist managed to complete her project only at the very last moment, after which long weeks of waiting for the results of the Competition dragged on. Finally, on August 15, 2024, the long-awaited news arrived – the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve became the winner in its nomination! Irina Pushkova: “The Certificate of Honor from the Reserve Embassy will take its place on the wall of awards of the reserve’s environmental education department. We are always happy to take part in the events of the “Reserve Embassy” Foundation, they are great professionals in their field and we always have something to learn from them”.
5. Adopter Day
Last Saturday, October 12, the traditional autumn “Adopter Day” was held in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. The animal guardianship program has been implemented in the reserve for 20 years. Its goals is to popularize humane treatment of animals, and the funds raised from sponsorship are used to improve the maintenance of animals in the Central Bison Nursery. Over the years, many bison have found guardians who have taken on part of the costs of their maintenance. The annual maintenance of one bison is not cheap at all and includes the cost of feed, veterinary care, maintaining the nursery infrastructure and even equipping livestock technicians with the necessary tools. Thanks to sponsorship funds, many tasks that are difficult to foresee and plan in advance can be quickly solved. Since the very beginning of the program, the nursery has held annual “Adopter Days”, when the “foster parents” of bison from the Central Bison Nursery are invited to a “parent meeting”. Many adopters live in other regions of our country and not everyone was able to get to the southern Moscow region on this Saturday. During the official part of the event, the reserve’s management provided a report on the expenditure of the funds received, a small presentation with photos and a story about their ward was prepared for each adopter. Then all the benefactors went on an excursion to the Central Bison Nursery to visit the “kids”, find out how they are doing, get acquainted with the conditions of their keeping and take memorable photos. The adopters did not come empty-handed, they filled the “”Chest of Goodness” with apples and carrots. During the evening feeding, all the tasty treats were fairly divided between the bison.
6. The repair is finished
In the Central Bison Nursery of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, the current repair work on the structural elements of the internal fence of enclosure No. VI has been completed. In accordance with the technical specifications, the contractor replaced all metal supporting structures, installed mechanisms for retractable feeders and installed a common canopy. In total, the bison now have seven new retractable feeders for compound feed, six feeders for hay and one for salt, which are installed under a common canopy and are reliably protected from precipitation. Now the nursery staff can easily clean and maintain a good sanitary condition of the feeding area, and in order to give out a portion of compound feed or sliced apples, there is no need to go inside the enclosure. We would like to thank two sponsoring organizations for improving the conditions of keeping bison and further developing the infrastructure of the Central Bison Nursery. Thanks to their joint charitable assistance, our Institution was able to quickly and efficiently carry out the necessary repair work this fall. The sponsors of the project “Current repair of structural elements of the internal fence of the pen of the Central Bison Nursery” were our long-time assistants and partners: the Khakassian Republican branch of the All-Russian public organization “Russian Geographical Society” and the largest manufacturer of chemical products, the limited liability company “TD Grass”. In the Central Bison Nursery, special attention is always paid to feeding areas and the organization of the feeding system, since the health and well-being of the bison living here, rare animals listed in the Red Book, which were recently on the verge of complete extinction, directly depend on this. The only Central Bison Nursery in the Moscow region has been trying to meet the highest standards since its opening 76 years ago. About 50 bison live in the nursery, thanks to the care and comfortable conditions, many bison cubs are born every year, and the young animals, who have grown up to one and a half to two years, leave to replenish the free bison population in Russia. A lot of work has been done over the past decades! The total number of bison currently living in the world (as of December 31, 2023) has reached 11,180. Russia is currently home to the largest free population in the world, the Central Russian (Oryol-Kaluga-Bryansk) population, which numbers 1,324 bison, and in total, according to data from last year, there were 2,640 animals in our country.
7. Mugayka the happy bison
The bison is a contemporary of the mammoth, which has survived to this day, but has not been domesticated by humans. In the Central Bison Nursery, these powerful animals live in large pens in semi-free conditions. They are provided with good nutrition, constant access to water and, if necessary, veterinary care. Despite this, bison remain wild animals well adapted to independent life. In the Central Bison Nursery, animals are under the constant supervision of specialists. This allows them to respond quickly to any situation. When a bison is sick or injured, they try to help it immediately. In December 2023, a tragic event occurred at the Central Bison Nursery – during a round, bison breeders discovered that a heifer named Mugayka had an open fracture of her right hind leg. The head of the nursery, Andrei Stefutin, a veterinarian by training, immediately realized that the bison could only be saved with a quick operation. But all the veterinary clinics that had the ability to treat large animals had experience working with horses, but not with bison. Only the veterinary clinic from the Dmitrov urban district, MAXIMA VET, agreed to carry out the risky operation. But the operation required significant financial resources. Friends of the reserve, the Charitable Foundation “Revival of Nature”, helped resolve this issue. The Foundation provides comprehensive support in organizing and holding events aimed at restoring endangered animals. The President of the Foundation, Natalia Mikhailovna Tornkvist, took personal part in resolving the issue with Mugayka. The money was promptly allocated, and Mugayka went to the clinic. She was diagnosed with a comminuted fracture of the metatarsal bone of the right pelvic limb. There was only one way out – surgery. The great danger was that it had to be done under general anesthesia, and no one had ever used the available drugs on bison, the necessary dosage was unknown. During the operation, which lasted 3 hours, doctors removed bone fragments, fixed the broken bone, installed a titanium plate in the leg and applied a plaster cast. After anesthesia, the bison woke up safely. Soon Mugayka returned to the nursery and a long recovery began. Despite the titanium plate in her leg, the little bison was very active, butting anyone who approached her. However, the recovery process required regular examination by specialists and involved visits to doctors. Mugayka was again placed in a transport cage and taken to the clinic: to remove the plaster cast and take an X-ray. The baby bison’s leg has almost recovered, and now there is no trace of the disease. Until Mugayka is fully recovered, she is kept in a separate pen, but very soon she will be transferred to the youth group of bison of her year of birth.
