Here's How The European Bison Will Transform the UK 

The bison in the US keep their distance from humans. The problem arises in National Parks when people get too close for selfies the bison will charge them. The cause of the injury is self stupidity.

I was lucky enough to see a re-wilded Bison on the Danish island of Bornholm at the end of August this year. I was with my two sons and we were completely thrilled to see one in the distance about 150/200 metres doing it’s bison thing deep in woodland. After learning about their reintroduction it was a really memorable and inspiring encounter.

So happy to see the uk being rewilded. Our countryside feels quite sterile

Huge fan of your passion and love for Nature. Greetings from South Africa. Love seeing European wildlife...extremely majestic animals.

Pleasantly surprised to hear this is happening in England, particularly in the South as opposed to somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.

All that hard work we have put into bringing Żubr back has finally paid off. ❤ let them roam around Europe once again!

We are a new Earth Protectorship Community in and around Camborne in west Cornwall....bring them back here. Historically they have been linked to our region biogeographically in this part of the Palearctic bio region. Excellent little video, well done 10/10!!!!

Super excited about this project, really looking forward to some more results from it

You could add the semi wild Chillington White Cattle as they are self managing..

What is a shame is that like the two American bison subspecies (plains and wood) that have size and other differences, there were subspecies of European that were lost to extinction. It seems that were huge size differences in these subspecies of European. The European bison that are still with us are from a pretty small gene pool that was left when they almost went extinct. It is sad that all those gene types were lost. There were small differences between these European subspecies and some were perhaps larger than the American.

I love bison .

So I am from South Dakota, USA and we used to have millions of bison roaming the plains. It is a similar problem here. We killed millions of them back in the day and it has decimated our ecosystem. They do a lot for native plants and animals. They are a keystone species. We luckily here have quite a big herd in Custer State Park. It is way cool driving by and seeing how massive Bison are. Granted it is a slightly different species from the ones in Europe. There are facilities that are trying to rehabilitate the population here as well. Again in the plains 200+ years ago there millions of them all over. It is one reason why america has less wolves and predators that preyed on these animals. If there prey is gone then they have nothing to eat. I'm really glad we are making up for the mistakes of our past and rewilding nature.

Of course we have to thank human stupidity for these magnificent creatures' near extinction. But it also warms my heart to know that kind, hard-working people are doing their best to protect these animals, as well as the rest of nature! Gives me hope. May we see many more generations of these magnificent animals roam the European wilds!!

Money well spent ..more of this please..Good luck👍🇬🇧

I hope this is just the start of something incredible!!!

I’d love to see a bison living semi wild

I can imagine people would love to go see them if they get the opportunity, I would.

Thank you for raising awareness of this amazing project 🌱👍🏼

Now we need wolves and bears back.

Native Perennial grasslands were major focus for North American Bison who utilized winter and summer ranges with migratory routes that were generationally taught and used by others.

Quality as always

I hope you keep us all updated. Thanks

Wonderful and so glad that you are so enthusiastic.

I live about 5km from Fota wildlife park in Cork, I didn't realise they contributed 2 of the bison. Such cool news

Hey, noticing subscribers are increasing here,also views are increasing. Congratulations. Always wondered why britishers are so much not concerned about nature and rewilding and channels like yours i mean specially you. But seems like you and your channel have come a long way. Proud moment really.

Great video. I look forward to learning more and visiting there next time I am back in the UK.

Heavy jaws and strength of animal browses with prowess, often pulling up shorter rooted plants, young seedlings, sprouting trees, so herbivores utilizing various food sources.

Excellent U.K. this is what I like to see. Fan from USA. 🇬🇧😊

Native bees may land in the poop, drawing nutrients, possible salts, by feeding on this materials for minerals. Wallowing opens up the underlying soils, by doing so they glean possible salt licks, remove parasites, escape from flies, and open niches for other seeds.

In 61 days now, I am moving to The UK, as Dual US/UK citizen, to bring this regeneratively to life, across all the isles. I design Regenerative Farming Communities, so we can all flourish with real food, healthy ecosystems, mature trees, rich nourishing soils, curving rivers, riparian riches, and a 7-layer food forest, inc. bison, chickens, sheep, and all the animals meant for food production, but never meant for the deadly, poisonous industrial sense of production. We are stewards. We are Nature. We are back! Aloha, Claire, moving from Maui to Scotland, and happy to make your acquaintance.

I’ve been in Poland and seen some of the bison there. It was incredible!

Great project and I hope it’s successful. I wonder what the plan is when that time comes. Just remove the fences around this project and let them go? Would be great to see but it’s more difficult to hide a bison in the countryside compared to the thousands of deer that are already there.

I'm a extremely passionate conservationist from the US and I'm really happy to see this. IDK how the European bison's temperament is, but the North American buffalo is very dangerous. People that don't keep thier distance and do ignorant things get injured or killed every year in the parks. I'm so blessed for you!

As to what would one do if confronted, I can say having been charged by a bison, it helps one focus one's priorities. I didn't know I could move that fast.

I grew up on the Canadian Prairie and our neighbours raised Bison, so I had the rare opportunity to grow up seeing Bison almost daily. My ancestors came from Kent, so I'm very excited to see Bison return to that part of the UK.

I have Bison in my local woods literally. The main thing is to keep safe distance about 50 m at least. Do not make noises and slowly retreat away. They need lots of peace and silence.

I had always associated bison with America and Canada - but never Britain! It's great knowing that they have finally been re-introduced to the UK. Also i think ecological engineering should seriously be considered in different areas of the world instead of geo engineering.

Love the content! Great job! 🦬🦬🦬

There have been bison in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco since the 1800s. As settled as England is, the whole country isn't San Francisco dense. It's not that crazy an introduction.

Keep up the good work and videos

I would love to see bears and wolves free in the countryside...it would really make a great addition to our country and help with tourism.

Lovely project, lookinf forward for the results!

Just Brilliant Rob ! Congratulations, A victory for Rewilding 💯‼️

They should have a 4th test area that has bison, longhorned cattle, Exmoor ponies, and the iron-aged pigs too...

Amazing video Rob :D

And to think that right after the First World War there were only nine surviving European Bison in the world. And after the Second World War, sixteen. Today, the bison, like no other species, is a symbol of the success of Polish nature conservation. It was Poles who, thanks to international cooperation and joint efforts, managed to restore bison not only in the Białowieża Forest, but also in other places in Poland and Europe. Now the European Bison are returning to Great Britain. This is an extraordinary story in which man condemned a species to extinction, but managed to save it at the last moment and repair the damage done to the environment.

HOWDY from Texas ! I subbed , I'll never visit the UK , but I'm all for rewilding the world.

Woodland habitats, open water sources, edge cover and known to be wintering grounds, certain areas meant less snows to deal with and sheltered habitat.

One thing that they are going to change is the way a bunch of fences are built. If they are anything like their North American cousins there's not any fence that will really stop them from leaving a area when they decide to.

Fun fact: The native English word for the bison is 'wesend' (closely related to the German 'Wisent').

Brilliant video I really enjoyed it

Another great video Rob :)

I am a former student doing animal management abd ining for a university degree in animal conservation and I would love to work with major projects to help strengthen this land like it once was and I believe that the lynx will need introducing after everything is fully up to date and checked out and build a better habitat like as in the wild

I think this is awesome. A bunch of blokes are about to be trampled into dirt thinking bison are huggable. Be careful what you wish for.

Prayers for this work Rob.....Thank you

Glad the project includes a comparison with cattle. Will be interesting to see if bison have any different effects to the cattle on the woodland.

I appreciate the incredible comeback that bison have made in Europe, but please remember that European bison have never occupied the United Kingdom in it's entirety. At best they were once present in the south of England when Doggerland was still above water. As wonderful as they are, this is not rewilding at its best by any means. We need to be incredibly careful which species we bring here.

You deserve so many more views than you're getting. And yes, I'd love to see bison in my local green spaces!

I am from Poland and Bisons are more common here, as it's here, that European Bison was saved. Actually my let's say sister in law has a weekend house near Białowieski National Park and for her it's normal to see Bison herds through the fence of her property. You are not really scared of them, as you just know they are there and you just keep your distance (it's nearly impossible to bump on them without earlier notice). They are not really a threat to farmers living there as well, as during the winter they are being fed by Park guards, so that they don't look for the food outside of forest. People are not scared by them in Poland, we are marvelled by their might.

So glad I found your channel. Please keep making.

bison are cool. I've encountered herds while on foot in South Dakota and on Catalina Island in California. They are scary large and yes, you do feel threatened. :)

Cool channel, definitely got a new watcher! 👍

Wonderful idea,!of course they will have to be tracked ,and placed in suitable areas,and monitored.

Great video

If I didn’t know there were bison in the woods and I turned around and saw one I’d shit myself briefly

so amazing :) the uk has such rich culture, and these animals are a lost part of it

Careful of what you wish for. They aren't exactly Hedgehogs.

well done!!

Superb, love this.

That's awesome! We've rewilded bison here in Canada as well.👍🇨🇦😎🦬

So many places in the UK feel sterile of any life,you see miles of empty fields with no wildlife.I hope farmers in the UK diversify into doing more rewilding on their land.The UK could be teaming with wildlife within 20 years or so.

How do I stop my consumerist neighbours complaining to the council? I have a pony in the garden sometimes.. though we have buildings which are 'stables' on the deeds so it's really not pushing it. I'm pretty careful and only seen a rat once in 4 years, but they complain According to them, water runs uphill, the wind is easlerly, we have knotweed (it was bindweed), brambles (coming in from their side) flies (I bring pony here to escape flies) and we poisoned/set our dogs on his cat. He threw mancky grass cuttings over the fence until I threw some back, then he came to my work to complain about me. And on and on. Oh and other rumours spread... Every time the pony changes coat there's a rumour that she's died and I've got another pony. I just don't know what he's going to come up with next. What do I do?

It will be interesting to see what happens in the absence of the large predators that also once roamed there. My guess is herbivores will *eventually* get too numerous, start overgrazing.. and there’ll be a hullabaloo about whether to cull, or go ‘full wild’ & bring back wolves etc

The bison that lived here would have lived on grassland and bigger herds.

being afraid or feeling threatened by a bison is the exact thing that can get them killed by humans.

The thing I love the most about my local forest is the fact that I feel completely safe hiking alone knowing all big, potentialy dangerous animals have been driven away decades ago. I'm not sure I would be for this project if it happened in my local forest. However, maybe with education on what to do if you meet a bison in the wild, I would feel safe again.

Reforest and Rewild Scotland !!!! Yes! Great work.

this is awesome!

You know the main difference between a bison & a buffalo? You can’t wash your hands in a buffalo. Badoomm-tssss.

That is amazing I didn't know this

When I come across a highland cow (used to emulate wild bison where I'm from) I make sure to keep an appropriate distance, so I guess I'd do the same with bison. Maybe I'd be a bit more apprehensive since I am not as familiar with the bison... Like many already have commented however, people will go up to them and they will try to pet them, put their children on them etc, because our species is... Well let's keep it at creative.

This a very good sign for the land.Large herbivores are sign of divine bounty.

In theory, according to one of its biggest fans, my 270 Winchester should be good enough for these, not to sure about that so I am going to try it on a wild boar first. On a more serious note, they have not been "reintroduced" they are in a glorified theme Park! If they were let run free in the New Forest in properly sustainable numbers, that might count as reintroduction. The problem would be the destruction and damage they would cause and the dangers to the public.

I think people in the UK take the tameness of our environment for granted. Its actually quite nice to not have to worry that your kids might be playing in the woods and accidentally come between a several ton wild animal and its offspring. Yeah they're cool to look at, yeah its cool that they can be ecologically beneficial - but I know the English public well enough to know that you nimby's wishing they'd just get rid of the barriers and let them roam free in heavily urbanized Southern England, would be the first ones to throw an effing fit at your local council for letting them break your fences down or trample your dog to death. The places these Bison come from, Poland and Belarus are not tame places, their forests are enormous and their countryside is wild. There are bears, there are wolves, there are big cats. The locals know this and they prepare accordingly when they venture into the woods and Babushkas tell tales of naughty children that don't listen, that venture too far only to be eaten by the creatures of the forest. We have no such cultural preparation. The European Bison numbers are stable, they do not need the forests of Kent to prevent their endangerment. Keep them penned up and GPS tagged by all means but it should simply remain a curiosity. Rewilding is good, but there is such a thing as too wild - Be very very careful what you wish for.

There are 2820 European bisons( żubrów) in Poland on the end of 2023. 2626 of them live free in the forests all around Poland.

Now, introduce some Apex predators and we’ll be laughing.

My best wishes beautiful massive bison family! ❤️ 💯 Of course I'll be scared being near them, wouldn't wanna be tossed up in the air 🤣

I would LOVE to work with nature and help out as a career path, I just don't know where to start. In my current financial situation becoming a patron or member isn't possible, but hopefully it can be in the future. Do you have any tips for those with not much to spend money-wise? 🌿

There is no such initiative in Spain as far as i'm aware, but some cows and bulls scaped from a ranch on my grandpa's town. The problem is that those bulls are the race bred for bullfighting, so they are like a bull supersoldier. 800kg on average of pure muscle, bred for agression and ferocity and they run on packs. they quickly adapted to the wild and are now on being hunted as an invasive species, but after a few years, they are still not erradicated. the reason is that they completely outmatch the deer and boar wildlife, because a single bull can kick the shit out of an entire pack of any local wildlife there is on the country. The iberian wolf has been extinct for many years, so it has no predator aside from hunters. as oposed as with bisons this is not benefitial at all and a danger to anyone that may encounter them while hiking.

Excellent video as always my friend! Just like the return of the Buffalo here in the States the return of bison, wolves and other keystone species will do nothing but good and benefits!! Have a great day today!!

Wild bison in the US do not seek out human contact, but as the largest herbivore sometimes they don't retreat from humans either. They should not be closely approached! If they feel threatened or annoyed they can easily injure, maim, or even kill a human in just a second by goring, crushing with their head, or trampling. That caution said, they are change creators in the landscape and truly majestic animals!

this is all very exciting, hoping to see things like this in ireland sometime. greetings from the us

So for the historiy section the lead is that (2:10) Bison extinsion (also in the UK?) was caused by German soldiers... a bit weired

Treat bison with the respect you should be showing ANY wildlife (from a distance) and you'll be fine.

I've heard of Highland or native cattle being used for similar projects. What do Bison do different?

Rewilding the UK also should include: beavers, hogs and lynx. If any specie can be restored to its native range it should be.

I think oyster a great idea, of an animal was once here it should be here now if possible, since 1927 humans have expanded their range so it's gonna be harder for these animals to roam around freely, I Hope this is successful I'd love to possibly have the chance to see one while out walking!

Trying to think of places in the uk they could roam without fences not many come to mind, the new forest and forest of dean are the only one's in England I can think of

I'd be super excited to see them, but yeah I'd back away slowly lol

Greetings from Romania!