Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park Bisons Population Threatens Ecosystem
Author: Newsmaker added 26-11-2012, 17:40
Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park has become a visiting card of touristic part of Brest region a long time ago. Thousands of visitors are coming to see the largest beast of the most ancient European forest – a bison. Meanwhile only at the beginning of the previous century this species was facing an extremely high risk of extinction, and the bison population counted 50 individuals in the whole world.
Today thanks to efforts of many people the flock of bisons created in the forest is the third in the world in terms of number . At the same time this number is a reason for alarm. There are more bisons in the forest than the national park could afford to feed as there are also other wood inhabitants that want to eat.
Keeping of animals costs money. For example, 20 bisons easily eat up one feeding-trough during the day. One can imagine what supplies for the winter should be to feed 450 individuals of the biggest forest beast. But according to people working for the national park, the local bison in view of its genotype would not survive without a man.
Oxes of Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park do not make happy landowners either while deer, wild boar and bisons are frequent guest at winter crops fields. The bison is listed in the Red Book, therefore landowners are not allowed to shoot the animals. In order to save their crops people drive the forest giants out of fields.
Scientists guess how to cope with the Red Book animals overstepping the forest borders and trespassing agricultural acres destroying whole fields.
People working in the national park believe that up to 300-350 bisons can accommodate in the Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park at one time. Now they have over 400 head and thus facing problems dealing not only with feeding the flock, but also avoiding the harm to the forest itself.
However, specialists of the national park are convinced that a burden of one's own choice is not felt. The population was restored. The most urgent issue is to find efficient approach and resolve the head number problem to make good both to animals and to the forest.
Share:
Donate: