Today, 17 European bison were released into the wild in Romania’s Southern Carpathian Mountains. They were invited here by the people of the Municipality of Armeniș, who have set aside a large part of their communal land for wildlife. The animals came from wildlife parks and breeding stations across Europe – from Sweden in the north to central Italy. In all a complicated logistical operation, arranged by Rewilding Europe and its partner WWF Romania. The  largest-ever bison reintroduction in Europe.

On May 17, Europe’s largest living wild land mammal, the European bison, will be brought back to the Țarcu Mountains in the Southern Carpathians rewilding area, in Romania. It has been extinct from the area for 200 years. About 20 European bison will be brought here from several European countries. Later on this summer 10 more will be taken here. This is the biggest-ever bison reintroduction and transportation to have taken place in Europe.

Joep van de Vlasakker from Rewilding Europe was one of the passionate speakers at the TEDxEroilor event in Romanian Cluj-Napoca recently, talking about the fascinating European bison. “Challenging minds” was the theme of this fifth edition of TEDx here, and Joep did precisely that, challenging and amazing the specially invited members of the audience with a number of bison stories. He started with “Once upon a time”, and ended with “Coming soon, to a place near you”.

Ten enthusiastic locals from the Southern Carpathians in Romania, participated in the first nature guide training event organised by Rewilding Europe, in April in the village of Armeniș.

Romania, the name of this country has always had a mythical sound in my ears. I had wanted to visit Romania and the Carpathians for many years, I so didn’t have to think too long about going there when I was asked to.

Traveling across the USA you can stop to have a hamburger and a coke (or pepsi), then drive 1000 km and stop to eat a hamburger very similar to the above in a town very similar to the previous one. However, if you drive 1000 km across old Europe, you will probably cross 3–4 country borders, pass 4–5 language zones, 7–8 architectural styles, a couple of religions and dozens of distinctively different delicious dishes …

“A little to the left,” says Adrian. “No, stop!” screams the other Adrian. Petru, the Major of the county of Armensis, steps on the brake — just in time!

It’s such a joy to see your kindreds succeed and walk their talk! Some months ago, when I met Cristian Ilea, he was talking about the storks and the live video stream and the difficulties of such an enterprise and… and I, for one, was vaguely tired of big words and shiny futures of never happening ideas.

The results of a bison feasibility study in the Southern Carpathians show that most habitats in the area are very suitable for the bison. The basins of Motrul Sec, Bahna and Sebes rivers each offer over 8000 hectares for the animals – an area big enough for the minimal population patch size for the European bison.

We have just updated our Southern Carpathians gallery page with new images from German photographer Florian Möllers. Last autumn, Florian spent several days in the local surroundings, photographing people and landscapes in our rewilding area. Back then, he shared his first impressions from the Southern Carpathians in our blog.