This time of the year the younger bulls are forced out of the herd by older bulls and they can roam far away.
Only a short distance from the border we find several polish protected areas. This young bull crossed the Oder river near the little town of Lebus.
A German veterinarian gave order that the bison should be killed. They thought that the bull would be a threat to the inhabitant living in the area and for the traffic.

Next year it is 90 year since the rescue work of the European bison in Poland started. They are reintroduced into the wild in the north east, in the mountains in the southeast and in the western part of the country. This young bull came from the successful recovering of the western population. The wild populations in Poland are followed with great interest of more and more polish people. Therefore respond many of the newspapers readers about the decision to shoot this bison.

In Sweden, this time of the year, is it not uncommon to see that large animals as moose walk into the gardens and eat apple. We are used to that kind of visitors. In the town of Lebus they was fear for large animals. It had been easy for the German authorities from the town Lebus to consult German or Polish experts first before they shot him.

The experience of this case are, first. That the Western population of bison in Poland now have grew bigger and have the possibility to migrate to other areas. And we also have seen that migrant young bulls don´t have any problem to cross such large rivers like the Oder.
The other thing are the importance of knowledge. The European network of European Bison specialists, the European Bison Conservation Centre, are working in 14 regions around the Europe. In Germany there are four regional organisations that could assist the authorities in the town of Lebus in such situation. We hope in the future that it is possible to raise the knowledge among authorities around the Europe in such situations. And we can hope that it is also possible to build cross border network for conservation in this area, so this sad situation not will happened once more.

The article in the newspaper Gazeta Libuska; http://www.gazetalubuska.pl/wiadomosci/slubice/g/zubr-z-lubuskiego-zastrzelony-w-niemczech-jak-tak-mozna,12483423,25548909/