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European bison


Rob85
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I just read an article on Facebook about plans to (re)introduce European bison into woodland around Kent as part of some rewilding project. The plans are to introduce 1 male and 3 females in 2022.

Does anyone think this is a good idea or a recipe for disaster?

The article suggests they are docile animals that tend to blend into the background and won't annoy anybody. What's people's thoughts on this? My thinking is all the bunny huggers will love this as it's rewilding but within a few years they will have to either introduce more and more to expand the gene pool or they will eventually succumb to diseases without proper management.

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It'll never happen unless its in a fenced enclosure with no public access. People can't manage to walk through cattle or sheep fields without causing a nuisance and sometimes getting themselves killed and even in places where there's boar people regularly come into conflict with the boar. People are gored and injured in yellowstone frequently trying to take selfies with the bison so a little corner of Kent just won't work. Even if we had the range for them to roam the biggest reason it wouldn't happen is people are ******* stupid. Don't try and stroke the stags and bucks in deer parks during the rut, don't try and touch seals on the beach or swim with them in the sea, don't play on the railway all of these common sense things are not common sense to some people! And in the modern world of litigation you can't just let people's stupidity get them killed any more. 

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I fully support the return of all native species which have been made extinct, and until we do so, we cannot hold the moral high ground on habitat loss and extinction elsewhere such as the Amazon.

 

The reason for the extinction of most large mammals in the UK was competition with farming, whether that be sea eagles taking lambs, beavers blocking streams, wolves killing sheep, boar spreading swine fever or causing agri damage, bears killing livestock, bison eating crops\mate with cows, lynx killing deer, raptors such as goshawks or eagle owls killing game birds.

There really isn't a good reason not to reintroduce them all, but there are a lot of poor reasons such as they are 'dangerous', too many people, need too great a range, can't protect livestock, will cause flooding, couldn't have flocks in the hills, will kill\displace  other raptors, will need to compensate landowners or famers etc etc.

 

 

 

 

 

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we have already got water buffalo in the fens and they are doing a damn good job.........they are unblocking the waterways .......wild flowers are increasing........and our local birds have even learnt to hitch a ride on them and catch the flies

think there is a programme on to-nite about it ............

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2 hours ago, Stonepark said:

I fully support the return of all native species which have been made extinct, and until we do so, we cannot hold the moral high ground on habitat loss and extinction elsewhere such as the Amazon.

 

The reason for the extinction of most large mammals in the UK was competition with farming, whether that be sea eagles taking lambs, beavers blocking streams, wolves killing sheep, boar spreading swine fever or causing agri damage, bears killing livestock, bison eating crops\mate with cows, lynx killing deer, raptors such as goshawks or eagle owls killing game birds.

There really isn't a good reason not to reintroduce them all, but there are a lot of poor reasons such as they are 'dangerous', too many people, need too great a range, can't protect livestock, will cause flooding, couldn't have flocks in the hills, will kill\displace  other raptors, will need to compensate landowners or famers etc etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more - Just because we are at the top of the food chain doesn't mean there isn't room for anything else.  

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2 hours ago, ditchman said:

we have already got water buffalo in the fens and they are doing a damn good job.........they are unblocking the waterways .......wild flowers are increasing........and our local birds have even learnt to hitch a ride on them and catch the flies

think there is a programme on to-nite about it ............

Hello, BBC 2 9 pm I think simon 

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Correct me if I've got this wrong but when I was looking this up after reading about it we never did have "European bison" here. It was actually the "steppe bison" so would this not be classed as releasing a non native species? From what unread they are not the native that we had but rather the closest thing they could get.

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2 hours ago, CharlieT said:

3 Bison in an enclosure is not rewilding, we used to call such things a zoo.

"The plans are to introduce 1 male and 3 females in 2022"

Maths obviously isn't your strong point 🤣

Not got any problems with this myself. Apparently it's a private woodland just outside Canterbury, which I'd assume has good fencing round its entire perimeter otherwise it wouldn't be feasible. They're also going to be closely monitored,,,, it was on the BBC news this morning, so probably more about it via an internet search.

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Got water buffalo at a school near me, it has been known for then or one of then to put the wind up a few walkers and fishermen plus they go for a walk round the town when someone thinks it would be a laugh to let them out other than that not a problem.

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I wonder who is going to catch them up and check for TB ?  They will initially be in a fenced area but after a time the fence will be removed.  I know there is a herd up in the north eastern part of Poland in a huge forest the name of which I cannot say never mind spell.  Best of luck to Kents farming community. 

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Who gets to decide from which time period they`ll arbitrarily introduce an animal which once lived here?

The lion was once common in the UK.

At first I thought the idea of reintroducing the lion was plain bloody silly but, the more I think about it,the more I like the idea. Just to make things a little more exciting, rather than release them in the countryside, how about letting them go in parts of south and east London or some large council estates that I can think of.

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3 hours ago, JKD said:

"The plans are to introduce 1 male and 3 females in 2022"

Maths obviously isn't your strong point 🤣

Not got any problems with this myself. Apparently it's a private woodland just outside Canterbury, which I'd assume has good fencing round its entire perimeter otherwise it wouldn't be feasible. They're also going to be closely monitored,,,, it was on the BBC news this morning, so probably more about it via an internet search.

Never did get round to those adding up lessons, father always had me working on the farm. 

I always wondered what it would be like to be educated and able to add up like you clever people.

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8 minutes ago, CharlieT said:

Never did get round to those adding up lessons, father always had me working on the farm. 

I always wondered what it would be like to be educated and able to add up like you clever people.

Actually, 1 + 3 is easy,,,, but I struggle with 3 + 1 🤣

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18 hours ago, JKD said:

"The plans are to introduce 1 male and 3 females in 2022"

Maths obviously isn't your strong point 🤣

Not got any problems with this myself. Apparently it's a private woodland just outside Canterbury, which I'd assume has good fencing round its entire perimeter otherwise it wouldn't be feasible. They're also going to be closely monitored,,,, it was on the BBC news this morning, so probably more about it via an internet search.

But a few animals in a fenced off wood is hardly re wilding,  and at some point that fence will break meaning they will escape and probably wind up getting shot.

@ditchman I hadn't heard of the water Buffalo I'll have look for that. I've seen a Gruffalo though😆

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19 hours ago, bluesj said:

Got water buffalo at a school near me, it has been known for then or one of then to put the wind up a few walkers and fishermen plus they go for a walk round the town when someone thinks it would be a laugh to let them out other than that not a problem.

There was a water buffalo farm at the end of the road where I used to live just up from haimwood sporting. He made the news in the bad floods of 2000 for taking the buffalo calves upstairs in his house. They were notorious wanderers in the summer when the river was low. The bull got out one day and had to be shot by the police after he'd turned a few cars upside down and smashed a few gates. He packed in in the end because the milk processing plant was in London which was a fair trek from the Powys Shropshire border! 

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I have only seen the America version and was a couple of hundred yards away with a quick escape into the truck but would not wish to upset one of those bulls. I believe the European is about the same size, a water buffalo is a pussy cat compared and they can do some damage. We seem to be getting some very crazy people in this world, we are not as thin on the ground as we used to be but they do not seem to care.

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