A group of 11 bison who arrived from the Central Bison nursery in the reserve «Bryansk Forest», released to freedom.
А group of young bison who arrived on December 5, 2017 from the Central Bison nursery of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve to the state natural biosphere reserve «Bryansk Forest», obtained the long-awaited freedom. Three males and eight females of 2013-2014 years of birth were released to the territory of the reserve.
Release of animals to free grazing in the protected areas was preceded by strict quarantine and adaptation procedure. All animals were recognized as healthy, vigorous and ready for independent life.
This group of bison is precisely those young animals that, last summer, «became famous» and delivered so much trouble to our reserve when they ran away from the nursery in the summer and lived for three months in freedom, not wanting to return back. But the summer adventure passed and ended safely, and our young bison even acquired the first experience of independent life. Now their dream of a free life in the forests has come true.
Our bison have replenished the free population of bison living in Central Russia. Thus, the number of bison in the forests of Bryansk reached about 60 individuals.
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In 1997, an interregional program for preserving the Russian bison was developed in Russia. In 1998, the Working Group on Bison was created the «Bison Preservation Strategy in Russia». Work to create a wild population of bison was started in the National Park «Orel Polesye.» More than 60 animals from different countries, including Russia, Holland, Switzerland and Germany, were brought to the national park. Later, the process of settling bison from the «Orlovskoye Poles’ye» to neighboring reserves – «Smolenskoye Poozer’ye», «Ugra», «Bryanskiy les» and «Kaluzhskiye Zaseki» began. One of the sources of animals for settlement in the wild was the Central Bison nursery of the Prioksko-Terrasniy Reserve. At the moment, the free population of the bison of the Oryol, Bryansk and Kaluga regions numbers more than 500 animals.