Ongoing conservation efforts mean the European bison recently moved from Vulnerable to Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Bianca Stefanut of the Southern Carpathians rewilding team describes the longstanding importance of this iconic animal to Romanian culture and ecology.

The discovery of a huge auroch engraving in northern Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley provides a historical perspective for contemporary rewilding efforts.

From the very fragmented, small-landowner landscape in northeastern Portugal, we suddenly come into a big, already quite raw and wild-looking area: the 600 hectare Faia Brava private nature reserve, in the dramatic Côa valley. This is Portugal’s first private reserve and it is owned by Associaçâo Transumância e Natureza, who is working to rewild it, taking away all extractive use and bringing back lost wildlife, as well as protecting the already existing precious locally breeding wildlife: the Bonelli’s eagle, the golden eagle, griffon vulture, Egyptian vulture, eagle owl etc. And taking care of the cultural heritage sites in the reserve as well.