The “gentle giants” – almost exterminated, but saved… a contribution to the history of the European bison breeding in Germany

Abstract

The beginning of the European bison breeding in Germany can be dated to the year 1865, when the Prince of Pless acquired five European bison from Białowieża. Animals that were bred there, came in 1888 to the Berlin Zoological Garden and their descendants were distributed over all Germany and abroad. The Lowland-Caucasian line was established in 1911 in "Hagenbecks Tierpark" in Stellingen and continued in Scharbow/Mecklenburg. After the World War First, the private reserve in Boitzenburg/Uckermark next to Berlin was the most important breeding center in Germany. European bison from Boitzenburg played an important role in the construction of the herds in Hellabrunn and Springe and thus became the basis for numerous other groups, especially in Hardehausen, established in 1958. With animals from Poland the “Wisent-Island” on the Damerower Werder in the former German Democratic Republic was founded in 1957, and has since contributed more than 300 calves for the restitution of the European bison.