A group of five European bison have just been released in the Zhenda rewilding site in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains. With the free-roaming bison population already in the landscape growing steadily, the new arrivals will amplify the beneficial impact of this iconic keystone species.
Ivo Viktorov Danchev
Bison boost
Rewilding efforts in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria have made an eye-catching progression with the arrival of five European bison – one of Europe’s most impressive herbivores and a flagship species for nature recovery on the continent. The four females and one male calf were released in an acclimatisation enclosure in Zhenda, a new priority rewilding site for the Rewilding Rhodopes team, in late November.
European bison are keystone species that deliver a wide range of benefits to people and nature, with their presence in landscapes helping to enhance carbon sequestration, boost biodiversity, and drive the growth of nature-based tourism. European bison were first reintroduced to the Rhodope Mountains in 2013 and their population continues to grow. The new arrivals bring the total number of bison in the Rhodopes to 24.
“This latest release represents an exciting step towards our ultimate goal, which is to establish a sustainable population of European bison here,” says Andreana Trifonova, Rewilding Rhodopes Team Leader. “More bison releases are planned for the future, and we will take steps to encourage and enable people to live alongside the bison as their numbers grow. The return of this iconic animal will boost nature recovery in the landscape and support European-wide bison comeback.”
Ivo Viktorov Danchev
Journey to the wild
The five newly arrived bison were translocated from the Zubria Zvernica Breeding Centre, a wildlife sanctuary dedicated to bison conservation and education located in a state-owned forest in the heart of Slovakia. Over the course of two days, the animals travelled more than 1,000 kilometres to reach their new home.
The bison will be kept in an acclimatisation enclosure in Zhenda for several months, during which time experts from the Rewilding Rhodopes team will monitor their health and well-being closely. Once it has been established that the animals are fully adapted, they will be released into the wild.
Rewilding efforts kicked off in the 3800-hectare Zhenda rewilding site earlier in 2024. The site is located in the northwest of the Rhodope Mountains rewilding landscape and boasts a mix of forested and open habitats. Once they are roaming free, the European bison will share these habitats with species such as wolves, brown bears, jackals, red deer, and chamois.
Ivo Viktorov Danchev
The beneficial impact of bison
The restoration of wildlife in the Zhenda rewilding site aligns with the broader vision for the ecological revival of the Rhodope Mountains. European bison are so-called “ecosystem engineers“: through grazing, foraging, trampling and fertilising, the growing population in the Rhodopes will help to maintain the landscape’s biodiversity-rich mosaic of forest, scrub, and grassland, as well as numerous micro-habitats, which also host a wide range of plant and animal species.
The positive climate impact of European bison was underlined in a modelling study published earlier this year by the Yale School of the Environment, which has yet to be peer-reviewed. The researchers calculated that the European bison population currently roaming free in Rewilding Europe’s Southern Carpathians rewilding landscape in Romania could help grasslands in the area to capture roughly 10 times as much carbon as they were before bison were reintroduced. In order to maximise carbon drawdown and storage, European bison need to be able to roam freely across large, naturally well-connected landscapes.
Ivo Viktorov Danchev
The bigger picture: supporting bison comeback
The European bison once existed across much of Europe in large numbers. It disappeared from the wild in Bulgaria during the Middle Ages, while hunting and habitat loss had driven it to extinction as a free-roaming species by the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1927, there were less than 60 individuals left alive in zoos and private parks. Since then, various reintroduction programmes have seen significant wild populations restored in Central and Eastern Europe – mainly in Poland and Belarus – with a small herd reintroduced in northeastern Bulgaria in the 1960s. Over the last decade, the number of European bison has increased from just over 2500 to around 9000 individuals, representing a remarkable comeback.
Complementing bison reintroduction efforts in the Rhodopes, Rewilding Europe’s Southern Carpathians rewilding landscape is now home to a free-roaming population of over 200 European bison – the result of a reintroduction programme that began in 2014. Rewilding Europe is also supporting bison comeback in the Oder Delta (Germany and Poland).
Bison reintroduction efforts in the Rhodopes are part of a broader partnership between the Rewilding Rhodopes Foundation and the South Central State Forest Enterprise in Smolyan, which aims to restore wildlife in the Rhodope Mountains.
Ivo Viktorov Danchev
Invaluable support
Rewilding Europe’s work in our rewilding landscapes is supported by a wide range of highly valued partners. We would particularly like to acknowledge those providing core funding – notably the Ecological Restoration Fund, the Dutch Postcode Lottery, WWF-Netherlands, and Arcadia. Their longstanding support plays a critical role in enabling us to deliver and scale up rewilding impact.
