Wild bison haven’t roamed the British countryside for about 6,000 years, but conservation group Kent Wildlife Trust is aiming to change that with an ambitious plan to reintroduce the large herbivores in 2022, The Guardian .
It’s hoped that not only will the plan help an endangered species gain numbers and thrive once again, but also have considerable knock-on effects for the area’s natural spaces, too.
Britain’s wildlife is in a dire situation right now.
According to the State of Nature report released in 2019, the U.K. has suffered significant losses of its wildlife populations – an average of about 60% since 1970.
The report, completed by a coalition of 70 wildlife organizations and government agencies, shows a profoundly troubling situation as up to a quarter of the U.K.’s mammals and half of bird species are at risk of extinction. The report also referred to the U.K. as “among the most nature-depleted countries in the world.”
However, the Kent Wildlife Trust thinks that the reintroduction of wild bison can be a big help.
Wild bison, the trust says, are natural ecosystem engineers.
In the spring they need to shed their winter coats, and so they rub vigorously against trees to get the bark’s help removing the layers of shaggy fur. That action fells older trees, which in turn rot on the ground, bringing in insects, which attract hungry birds. At the same time, plant life can flourish in the clearings created by the downed trees.
“A wilder, nature-based solution is the right one to tackling the climate and nature crisis we now face,” the Kent Wildlife Trust’s Paul Hadaway told the BBC . “Using missing keystone species like bison to restore natural processes to habitats is the key to creating bio-abundance in our landscape.”
For their plan, the Kent Wildlife Trust is starting small.
Just four European bison will be introduced to the Kent countryside, one male and three females, with natural breeding expected to increase the size of the herd over time at a rate of one calf per year per female. The bison will come from The Netherlands or Poland, both of which have had successful releases of bison from captivity into the wild.
It’s also expected that the bison will attract some interest from locals.
Bison are the largest land mammal in Europe, but they aren’t nearly as fearsome as their size might suggest.
“They’re enormous, but what is amazing is how they blend into their background and they’re quite docile really,” Stan Smith of the Kent Wildlife Trust told The Guardian .
The trust is currently setting up a 150-hectare area that has no foot paths with cattle fencing where the bison can roam, and which will be expanded to 500 hectares once they’re settled. They’re also constructing viewing platforms where visitors and park rangers will be able to observe the bison similar to other successful bison release programs in The Netherlands.
The conservation group says they’re planning on being as minimally intrusive on the bison as they can be.
They won’t be providing any food or artificial shelter for the herd, and will monitor their health by observing their coats and examining their droppings.
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“We need to keep them as wild as possible [for the project to succeed],” Smith said.
Should the herd grow large enough, the plan is to relocate some to other sites around the country.
“Sometimes in the rewilding debate people think that it’s a look back to the past, but that’s not what we’re about,” Smith added. “We’re about trying to find the right natural solution for the modern world.”
h/t: The Guardian , BBC
