A royal return for wild bison

ON April 11, European bison were released to the wild in Germany.

A bull, five cows and two calves are now roaming the forests of the Rothaar Mountains in North Rhine- Westphalia. Wild bison have not wandered freely in what is now the Federal Republic for almost 300 years. North Rhine-Westphalia is the most densely populated German state. How ironic that it’s the first to host a wild herd of Europe’s largest mammal.

The driving force behind the project, subsidised by the German government, is 78 year old Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. He owns 13,000 hectares of spruce and pine forest, which support lynx, wild boar, black storks and several species of deer.