16.12.2015 change 16.12.2015

It is getting too crowded for bison in Poland scientists: scatter the herds

Photo: Fotolia Photo: Fotolia

It is getting too crowded for European bison in the Polish forests. Scientists and foresters are looking for new places to resettle these animals. Bison experts believe that herds of these animals should be smaller and more scattered than now.

Approx. 1.5 thousand bison life free in the Polish forests (exactly 1442 according to the count at the end of last year, but the young born in this year should be added to this number). It is one quarter of all free-living bison in the world. These bison live in five herds: Białowieża, Boreckie, Knyszyn, in the Bieszczady Mountains, and in West Pomeranian.

Dean of the Faculty of Animal Sciences at Warsaw University of Life Sciences Prof. Wanda Olech-Piasecka, which had been involved in monitoring and studying these herds told PAP that the time has come to move bison to other forests.

"Our herds are already too large and places where these animals dwell no longer meet their needs" - said Olech-Piasecka. She gave examples of herds that are already too large: the herd in Białowieża, which at the end of last year had a population of 522 animals, and Boreckie with 111 animals. Meanwhile, the calculations of scientists shows that the maximum size of the herd in Borecka Forest in Mazury is 95 bison.

"When herds are too large, bison start to cause damage for farmers and foresters. These animals do not have natural enemies, so their herds grow. It is a disadvantageous situation not only because of the potential damage caused by bison, but also because of the need to disperse health risk" - emphasised the professor.

She noted that bison suffer from many infectious diseases, for example blue tongue, or tuberculosis. "Also important it is the genetic aspect, these animals should cross to a greater extent than now" - Prof. Olech-Piasecka argued the need to scatter the herds in an interview with PAP. In her assessment, the number of free-living herds should be increased from the current five to a dozen, while reducing the size of those herds from a few hundred animals to a few dozen.

"If there were 15 or 18 smaller herds, we could safely have in total approx. 2 thousand bison in the Polish forests" - said Prof. Olech-Piasecka.

Foresters applaud her idea. "We basically have no other choice. We have to come up with find a constructive idea for the bison herds that are becoming too large" - said in an interview with PAP head of Department of Protection of Ecosystems in the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Białystok, Krzysztof Oniszczuk. He pointed out that the living conditions of current herds deteriorate not only because of their sizes, but also because of the fencing of grasslands near and in the forests, and building houses in the immediate vicinity of forests.

Under a grant from the Norwegian Funds, foresters together with experts from Warsaw University of Life Sciences have already started looking for new sites for Polish bison - for the time being their research area is concentrated on the eastern parts of the country. They study is not only the forest itself (for example if there is a sufficient number of meadows in the area), but also the local attitude towards these animals.

Oniszko admitted PAP that forests taken into account are: Augustow, Romincka and Pisz. Prof. Olech-Piasecka also named the Napiwodzko-Ramucka Forest (between Olsztyn, Szczytno and Nidzica) and the Beskid Forest.

"Recently, we summarized the research in Romincka Forest, in terms of both living conditions, which turned out to be promising, and social aspects. We believe that 25-30 bison could live there. As regards the approach of the local community, 50 percent of local residents do not have anything against bison living in this forest" - told PAP prof. Olech-Piasecka. She reserved the research does not automatically mean physical introduction of bison in the area of Gołdapia.

"This decision and action is the perspective of the next few years" - added Prof. Olech-Piasecka. Oniszczuk added that "bison is sometimes called the king of our forests, and it should become their integral part".

According to Prof. Olech-Piasecka, scattering bison herds into smaller groups should also involve "bolder than currently" decisions on culling these animals. Since bison are now under strict protection, each decision on bison culling is taken by the Minister of the Environment. Single animals are killed (for example in the herd in Borecka Forest 6 bison will be culled this year), they are old and sick animals.

"But there are, for example, no age limits for these animals. I think we should eliminate animals that have already finished breeding. For males it is 12 years, for females - 15 years" - admitted the professor. She emphasized that she did not propose to facilitate the process killing of bison (decision would still lie with the Minister of the Environment).

"The money from the sale of such hunt would be spent on maintenance of existing herds, as it is now. Feeding a few dozen bison is not cheap" - emphasised Prof. Olech-Piasecka.

Currently bison hunt in the forests Knyszyn and Borecka are sold mostly to foreign hunters - a few years ago, hunt in Borecka Forest was purchased by the former King Juan Carlos of Spain. Culling in Park Białowieża is carried out by employees.

Polish bison, including those in the herd in Borecka Forest, have telemetry collars, so that scientists can track their movements. It was found that in winter females with young clustered herds of a dozen animals dwell on the area of approx. 10 km sq. In the summer, when they are not fed by foresters, the area that they need is sometimes even 10 times larger.

Adult males live alone and young bison - jokingly called "bachelors" by foresters - live in smaller groups, to dwell alone after reaching maturity at the age of 6-7 years.

In addition to bison living in the wild, in Poland there are also small demonstration herd, numbering few to a dozen animals. They are kept by private parks and zoos, and near Białystok few bison in the yard are an attraction one of the restaurants.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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