Wisent Bremen

The European bison is one of the best-known examples of a large European mammal that came within a few individuals of total extinction. In the early twentieth century the last free-ranging lowland bison was killed in the Białowieża forest, and the last Caucasian bison was shot a few years later. The entire population alive today is descended from a small number of animals that survived at the time in zoos and private collections. From the late 1920s onwards, an international studbook and breeding programme was built up around Białowieża on this narrow genetic base, and the first reintroductions to the wild began in the 1950s. Today several thousand European bison live again in the wild, mainly in Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, Romania and Russia, and the IUCN has reclassified the species from Vulnerable to Near Threatened in recognition of this recovery.

In the DACH region the European bison does not play a widespread role. Its presence is limited to a small number of reintroduction and pilot projects. The best-known initiative is the Rothaargebirge project in North Rhine-Westphalia, where a small herd was released starting in 2013. The project has produced valuable scientific data, but has also led to conflicts with private forest owners over bark damage to beech trees; a high court ruling has restricted the obligation to tolerate the animals on private land and the original project association has ended its formal agreement with the state. In Switzerland, the Wisent Thal project in the Solothurn Jura keeps a closely monitored test herd in a multi-phase, fenced area to evaluate whether free-living European bison could be sustainable in that landscape over the long term. Austria has no comparable free-ranging population.

For hunters in the DACH region a chance encounter with European bison is in practice very unlikely and is restricted to the immediate surroundings of these few project areas. What matters most is the legal framework: the species is strictly protected under Annexes II and IV of the EU Habitats Directive, hunting is not permitted, and its resting and breeding sites also enjoy special protection. If you come across tracks, droppings or a sighting in your hunting ground, please report the observation to the responsible lower nature conservation authority and to the project team in charge. In doing so you contribute directly to the monitoring of a strictly protected species whose long-term establishment in Central Europe is still being scientifically evaluated.