Spanish readers can now learn all about the aurochs and the programme to bring back this European icon. The newest translation of the book – “The Aurochs – Born to be Wild” – provides context for rewilding efforts in Spain, which are set to boost natural grazing with wild and semi-wild herbivores such as the Tauros.
A herd of 20 Tauros has just been released in the Velebit Mountains rewilding area in Croatia. The animals will create a wilder grassland environment and continue the Tauros Programme’s genetic refinement process.
The discovery of a huge auroch engraving in northern Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley provides a historical perspective for contemporary rewilding efforts.
Rewilding Europe is delighted to welcome a new member from Germany to the European Rewilding Network. Displaying impressive growth since its launch at WILD10 in Salamanca in October 2013, the network now comprises 61 members from 26 European countries (including Rewilding Europe’s eight operational areas).
Taking place at the end of February, this year’s first European Rewilding Network (ERN) webinar saw 17 participants from nine European countries come together online to discuss the challenges of introducing large herbivores.
The successful translocation saw a second group of ten Tauros join the existing herd, which arrived in the Danube Delta in 2015. Crossbreeding with local breeds should result in a free roaming, well-adapted herd of bovines that will shape a biodiverse, naturally grazed delta landscape.
A recent genetic study, ranking 34 primitive cattle breeds by their closeness to the extinct aurochs, provides additional scientific backing to the Tauros Programme that aims to breed a suitable replacement for this lost species.
On Friday 16th October, the arrival of a herd of bovines to the Danube Delta rewilding area marked the launch of the third breeding site of the Tauros Programme. After a complex logistical operation and a very long barge cruise down the Danube River, the animals arrived safely at the breeding site location, receiving a warm welcome by the new herd managers and Sfântu Gheorghe local community.
Today, Rewilding Europe launches a new publication focusing on sharing practices on natural grazing as a key ecological process. The publication “Natural Grazing – Practices in the rewilding of cattle and horses” will help rewilding initiatives from all over Europe to learn and adopt some of the latest lessons and practices on setting up and developing natural grazing initiatives.
Two bulls of the Spanish breed Sayaguesa were transported from The Netherlands in mid October, to become a part of the Tauros Breeding Program in the Velebit mountains, Croatia.