On 11 December 2014, the Supervisory Board of Rewilding Europe unanimously approved the assignment of a new board member: Mrs. Lena Lindén from Sweden. The Supervisory Board now consists of 4 members: Wiet de Bruijn (Netherlands, chairman), Henrique Pereira (Portugal), Odile Rodríguez de la Fuente (Spain) and Lena Lindén (Sweden). Pierre-André Mourgue d’Algue (Switzerland) resigned from the board in August this year.
The three lucky winners in the December 2014 Travel Club lottery draw were drawn by Pedro Prata, Team Leader of the Western Iberia rewilding area, Colinda Vergeer, Regional Manager at Rewilding Europe and Simon Collier, Wildlife Tourism Manager of Rewilding Europe.
Today, two European bison cows as part of a group of four, were released into the wild in the Eastern Carpathians rewilding area. The gate of the enclosure was lifted by Professor Kajetan Perzanowski, Chief of the Carpathian Wildlife Research Station, Dorota Magusia, Vice Head Forester of Komańcza Forest District from State Forest Department, Professor Wanda Olech, Coordinator and President of the European Bison Conservation Center and Chairman of European Bison Friends Society, and Katarzyna Wasiak, Team leader of Eastern Carpathians rewilding area at a special release ceremony.
Large carnivores are among the most controversial and challenging species to conserve in our modern and crowded world. Despite this, the brown bear, the Eurasian lynx, the gray wolf and the wolverine today all have stable or increasing populations in Europe. The European situation showcases that it is possible for large carnivores and people to share the same landscapes.
Today, an agreement was signed about deliveries of quality European bison individuals for releases in the wild, between Rewilding Europe and the Avesta Visentpark (Avesta Bison Park) in Sweden, one of Europe’s oldest and finest breeding stations for this endangered wildlife species. This symbolically coincides with Rewilding Europe publishing its new “Bison Rewilding Plan 2014-2024”.
Only six days after the signature of a herd contract with two Croatian family farms, Rewilding Velebit brought in 22 Sayaguesa cattle from Spain to the vast abandoned plains in front of the Velebit Mountains. This means yet another breeding station for the Tauros Programme, which will greatly strengthen its effect.
During this fourth experience-sharing event within the European Rewilding Network on November 25, the attendants discussed how to develop wildlife watching tourism, and especially so by building and using well-designed wildlife watching hides.
The local team from our Danube Delta rewilding area is currently running a beaver autumn-winter monitoring programme in the Somova-Parcheș area, in the eastern part of the Romanian Delta. Eight interns are involved in the monitoring work.
“TARPAN: Repainting An Ancient Picture” won last night the Best Short Documentary award at the Equus Film Festival in New York, the first film festival with equestrian themed content from around the world.
Three females of European bison, coming from Eriksberg Wildlife Park in Sweden, were today brought to the Eastern Carpathians rewilding area, to augment the existing population of some 270 animals with new genes. This is the first joint activity after signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Bison Conservation Center and Rewilding Europe on 15 September this year.