A Wild Bison Was Spotted in Germany for the First a Time in 250 Years – So Authorities Shot It Dead
World Wildlife Fund is filing charges
A calf of a European bison heard pictured in the Rothaargebirge mountain on May 5, 2014 near Bad Berleburg, Germany. Thomas Lohnes / Getty Images
The World Wildlife Fund says it will be filing charges against German officials who shot a wild bison believed to be the first of its kind spotted in the country in over 250 years.
Police say a man spotted the bison near the Oder River just east of Berlin, The Local reports.
Local officials deemed the creature a threat to community safety and ordered it to be killed.
“Giving permission to shoot a strongly protected animal without a clear potential threat is a criminal offence,” Chris Heinrich, a WWF board member said in a statement.
“After more than 250 years a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it.”
WWF says on its website that the “species-specific behaviour of [bison] is not a threat to humans”, adding there have been “successful projects with wild-living [bison] both in Poland and now in Germany”.
“The shooting is unfortunately also an expression of the helplessness of the authorities, how they should deal with wild animals,” Mr Heinrich added.
“There is a lack of professional trained staff in the area.”
It is believed the bison made its way to Germany from Poland’s Ujście Warty National Park, which sits on the border between the two countries.
The European bison, the largest herbivore on the continent, is identified as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
The bison was once widespread throughout Europe, but by the end of the 19th century, only two populations of the bison survived in the Białowieża Forest and the western Caucasus mountains.
The animal was deemed extinct in the wild by 1927, though conservation efforts have reintroduced the species to countries including Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Slovakia.
Captive populations of the European bison can be found in 30 countries worldwide, the IUCN says.
Although I find the killing of the bison detestable, it does make me ruminate on why the officials killed the animal, other than just for human safety. I hear rumors that cougars are spotted in Pennsylvania, but wildlife officials won’t own up to the sitings (maybe they know, maybe they don’t). I’ve heard that turning a blind eye is a way to allow the cougars to live, but not deal with the mountain of paperwork that would be involved with determining numbers statewide, conducting surveys, determining threats to humans and livestock, developing a “managed” level (how many can we have before we start allowing sport hunters to kill them?), etc. I’m not against management of animals if they present a pressure to the natural landscape (deer vs native vegetation that cannot regenerate), but I’m not for the wanton killing of animals who were here first and are trying to come back, especially carnivores (like prairie dogs that support their hunters, the black-footed ferrets). Interesting dilemma.