WWF Attempts to Revive European Bison in Russia
12/9/99
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Title: WWF attempts to revive European bison in Russia
Source: World Wide Fund for Nature media release
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 9, 1999
Moscow, Russia - WWF, the international conservation organization,
is attempting to bring back the European bison from the brink of
extinction.
On December 9, 1999 three European bison from Finland and eight from
Germany were shipped to the Okski Nature Reserve breeding center in
European Russia for a month of acclimatization. Thereafter, the
animals will join a recently revived free-ranging herd in Central
European Russia.
As part of its European Bison conservation programme, in September
1996 WWF's Russia Programme Office launched a project aimed at
creating the first wild herd of European bison in the animal's
historical habitat - the Orel and Bryansk Area of the Russian plain.
So far 45 bison have already been reintroduced there. Overall the
five-year-long project implies reintroduction of 200 captive-bred
animals into the area.
"The reason for the repeated introduction is that fresh blood from
foreign populations is crucial for maintaining a good gene pool,"
said Vladimir Krever, Biodiversity Coordinator at WWF's Russia
Programme Office.
Introduction of fresh blood assumes much greater importance in this
particular case. By the beginning of 20th century, the European bison
had disappeared in the wild. In 1937 only 12 were counted throughout
the continent.
Due to the efforts of scientists from all over the world, after the
Second World War, the European bison population began to grow. By the
middle of 1980s there were some 2000 in Russia alone. However, ethnic
wars and uncontrolled poaching took their toll in the 1990s, causing
the wild population to crash to a mere 206.
For more information please contact:
Katya Pal, Press Officer, Russia Programme Office, tel.: +7 095 727
0939 or +7 095 915 3515; fax: +7 095 727 0938; e-mail:
kpal@wwfnet.org