A fresh sunny autumn morning in the late October of 2013 in the Studen Kladenets (Cold Well) Game Reserve in South-East Bulgaria. The colours of the trees are like the design of blankets made by the locals in this region: from green through yellow and reddish to brown. The morning haze is slowly moving from the top of the Yumruk Skala (Feast Rock) down to the smaller hills. The narrow asphalt road along the recently fenced area of a few hectares is almost completely blocked by cars and people.

The Central Apennines (Italy) was announced as the sixth area within Rewilding Europe today during WILD 10, the World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain (4–10 October). The Central Apennines, known as “the Wild Heart of Italy” is a perfect example of a rewilding area that is very close to a big city. This the newest of our rewilding areas is only an hour and a half’s drive from Rome.

On 23 September, the stunning Dutch film “De Nieuwe Wildernis” (“The New Wilderness”) will  premiere in Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Three days later, on 26 September you can enjoy it in cinemas. Its magnificent two minute trailer is already off and running in cinemas.

Since the beginning of our work in Western Iberia last year, a lot of attention has been given to bringing back wildlife, including rewilding horses and bovines. To scale up the efforts in the Faia Brava Reserve in north-eastern Portugal, a 25,000 ha area along the Côa River has been selected for the return of Iberian ibex, red deer and roe deer.

The Iberian Peninsula is one of the oldest inhabited territories in Europe. In Western Iberia man always lived in and with nature resulting in a spectacular landscape with dehesas, mountain ridges and valleys with steep cliffs. Right now, the situation is changing.

Rewilding Europe has started with the design of a Wildlife Recovery Programme, focusing on large herbivores to start with. A working group of dedicated specialists, Rewilding Europe’s Wildlife Team, has prepared an overview of all the wildlife restocking and reintroduction plans that we have developed for the five projects. Four species were selected to focus on: European bison, European wild horse, Aurochs and kulan.