14 DAY TRIAL // Germany can now take pride in having become the first country in western Europe to once again have bison roaming its lands. Thus, a small herd was recently released by conservationists in the area of the Rothaar Mountains.
These bison are the first to inhabit Germany's wilderness in well over 300 years.
As the people behind this conservation project explain, bison used to be a rather common sight both in Germany and in several other countries in Europe and northern Asia.
However, the destruction of their natural habitats and hunting eventually caused the species to become extinct in the wild. According to Mongabay, it was back in the 1920s when no bison were left to inhabit said regions.
The herd released in Rothaar Mountains near Bad Berleburg is made up of eight animals. Five of them are females, two are mere calves and one is a male.
Conservationists hope that the bison will be quick in adapting to their new environment and that soon enough their population will up to 25 individuals.
Prior to their being released in the wild, the bison were kept in a pen measuring 88 hectares (roughly 220 acres) for a period of three years.
During this time, specialists kept a close eye on them and tried to determine whether or not they could be safely released in the wilderness.
Despite the fact that this herd currently inhabits Germany's most populated state, i.e. North Rhine-Westphalia, conservationists are confident that their presence here will do nothing to disturb the human population.
More precisely, they claim that the animals do not constitute a threat to humans, and dangerous run-ins between the bison and the people living in this part of Germany are highly unlikely to ever occur.
Since the 1950s, when reintroductions of the European bison first began, and up until now, about 1,800 such animals have come to once again live in the wild.