Bisons leave Fota for UK

2 female European bison born at Fota Wildlife Park have been released into the Blean woods near Canterbury in the UK.

The move is as part of a flagship wilding project called the Wilder Blean, which is run by the Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust.

The 2 bison have joined an older female who came from the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland to become the 1st bison herd to roam freely in Britain for thousands of years.

Issues caused by Brexit had delayed the transfer of the 2 Fota-raised bison, Fota Wildlife Park has said.

The Wilder Blean project is a controlled trial with European bison and other grazing animals that aims to restore a nature-based process of woodland and habitat management that will transform the forest into a more biodiverse environment. European bison, the continent's largest land animal, act as 'ecosystem engineers'.

Their grazing behaviour fells trees and naturally clears openings in the forest, allowing other plant and animal species to grow and thrive.

Fota Wildlife Park, in cooperation with other European zoos and wildlife parks has been reintroducing bison into the wild since around 2007 to mountainous regions in Europe, including Poland and Romania.

Lead Ranger Aidan Rafferty said: “The Wilder Blean is an inspiring project and part of the critical rewilding and reintroduction work in which Fota Wildlife Park is involved.

He added: “The bison is such a large animal that it helps open up forest areas to light. This makes space for new growth in the woodlands that helps other species recover and ultimately promotes the abundance of biodiversity.”

“It's incredible to think that as recently as the 1920's, European bison was extinct in the wild. This project highlights the importance of the conservation and research work that zoos and wildlife parks participate in collectively,” he concluded.

Fota Wildlife Park is a not-for-profit conservation organisation which participates in the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) endangered breeding programmes and has been involved in the conservation and reintroduction of some species that are extinct or close to extinction in the wild such as the Scimitar-horned oryx as well as the European bison.