Wisent: elsewhere in Europe

The wisent was close to extinction, but fortunately there were just enough animals left in captivity and now they live in a number of places in large and small natural areas. These areas are distributed over their former habitat in Europe. The map below shows a selection of natural areas and wildlife parks where wisents have come to live again.

1. Białowieza and Beloveskaya Pushka: in the Polish and Belorussian part of the forest of Bialowieza some hundreds of wisents live in the wild. In winter they are given supplementary feeding to prevent them from debarking trees. See also http://www.bpn.com.pl/index_en.htm
2. Pape, Letland: in a 200 ha large fenced area a number of wisents have been living since June 2005. It is intended that in future the herd will live in a much larger territory. See also: www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/europe/where/latvia/lake_pape
3. Eriksberg, Sweden: in this 1000 ha large wildlife area live more than 20 wisents. In summer the area can be visited. See also: www.eriksberg.skogssallskapet.se
4. Damerower Werden, Germany: in a 240 ha large wildlife area lives a herd of 15 in their natural state. To enable the public to enjoy the animals, there are 2 smaller breeding sites of 5 ha each with a large lookout platform. See also: http://www.zusammenaufreisen.de/ausfluege/mv/damerow/wisente.php
5. Wisentgehege Hardehousen, Scherfede, Germany: more than 20 wisents of the Caucasian line live in a forest area of about 90 ha. Recently a new area of about 80 ha is being prepared for lowland wisents. The animals can often be watched well from lookout towers. See also: http://www.forstamt-baddriburg.nrw.de/wisent.htm
6. La Réserve de Sainte-Eulalie, la Margeride, France: in a mountainous area of 170 ha some dozens of wisents live. The local population provides horse-drawn wagons tours in summer and horse-sleighs tours in winter to watch the animals in the area. See also: www.bisoneurope.com
7. Natural park Lelystad, the Netherlands: like the freiwildgehege in Germany the nature park is much more spacier than ordinary zoos. Some 20 wisents live at a large surface area where they can be observed well. See also: www.flevo-landschap.nl
8. Kraansvlak, the Netherlands
9. Pszczyna, Polen: here in 1865 Jan Henryk XI von Hochberg introduced a small herd of wisents into his private hunting grounds. Distinguished gentlemen and ladies, including the German emperor Wilhelm II, used to hunt here frequently. The wisents in this area are from the so-called Pless line, an genetic line playing an important part in the enlargement of the wisent population. Currently a population of 35 live in a 742 ha large, but poor pinewood forest.