European bison in Ukraine threatened by Russian invasion

Abstract

Presented is the history of disappearance of European bison from Ukrainian wildlife and recent attempts towards its restitution. By 2020, Ukraine owned the fourth largest population of the species in the world, and many further initiatives towards its enlargement were already in progress, in cooperation with several European countries. However, as the history of the species extinction in the wild has shown, the European bison due to its body size and gregarious behaviour is especially sensitive to poaching and other forms of illegal killing. Advances of present Russian invasion in Ukraine threaten home ranges of this species. We have analysed situation of free ranging herds in Ukraine after the first month of invasion and indicated potential threats for this population as a consequence of warfare.