Around 8,000 years ago, the last wild bison disappeared in Sweden. Now the question is raised whether they should be released into the Swedish nature and become wild again. Researchers will investigate whether it would be possible for humans to coexist with the 800-kilogram bulls.
Although the bison is large and heavy, it is vegetarian. It grazes on grasslands and effectively keeps the lands open. Such an animal in the wild can save plants that are at risk of extinction when open land grows back, and increase biodiversity.
This is one of the reasons why the foundation Skogsällskapet, with the help of Sweden’s University of Agriculture, SLU, will investigate whether it would be possible to have wild bison in the Swedish nature again.
– The bison is a large animal, so even a single individual has a big impact on the landscape, says researcher Carl-Gustaf Thulin, who leads the work on the study at SLU.
In other countries in Europe, around 3,000 bison have been returned to the wild, including in Poland, Romania and Ukraine. In Sweden, there are bison in enclosures in several parts of the country, including in Avesta, where the bison park has produced a large number of calves over the years. About sixty animals have been exported to other enclosures both in Sweden and other countries.
The study should provide answers
Perhaps the most important question that the feasibility study will answer is whether it is possible to get people and different industries to accept wild bison in their surroundings. Both positive and negative effects must be investigated. How much are farmers and forest owners affected when the large cattle graze on their land? Will fewer people dare to move in forests where wild bison live?
To begin with, areas around the Forest Society’s own property north of Västerås will be a trial area.
A question to be investigated is whether there will be even more grazing damage in the forest with bison in the lands, than there already is due to moose grazing.
The bison is Europe’s equivalent of North America’s bison, but unlike it, has been extirpated from the European continent.
As late as the 1920s, the last bison was shot, and since then attempts have been made in various countries to plant the impressively large bull.