Bison-Rewilding-Plan-2014

JOEP VAN DE VLASAKKERHowever, not all people in the community canprofit from the bison through ecotourism andin some regions the opportunities and/or infrastructureare not sufficient to develop eco-tourism.Although hunting is an integral part of societyin many regions, Rewilding Europe does notrecommend hunting of bison as a game species,for a number of reasons. First of all, the number ofbison does not, in our view, allow for hunting of thespecies at this stage, where it is still considered asVulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Rewilding Europeprefers to use all available bison for building viablepopulations in Europe, and increasing the distributionrange of the species. At a certain point,which is far beyond the scope of this RewildingPlan, when the European bison may be down-listedto a lower extinction risk, and has thus entered asafer and more favourable conservation status,bison hunting could be considered under strictregulations, e.g. only the culling of older bulls thatno longer contribute towards reproduction. Meatcould then be sold locally or left for scavenging.Rewilding Europe will only support bisonhunting if it is needed from a human-bison conflict/acceptance point of view. The EBCC accepts controlledculling as a conservation method. Rewilding Europedoes see culling of older animals as a zootechnicalaction and does not see an ecological need toeliminate old animals as they have the same right tolive in the rewilding areas as younger ones.A very important negative effect of hunting is thatit changes bison behaviour, altering the spatial distributionof the species, and strongly reducing theirvisibility for wildlife-watching tourists. Radio collaringwill help bison rangers to track individuals and protectbison against poaching and illegal hunting.Guiding principles:• Local people must benefit from bison conservationon the basis that if bison provideeconomic benefits, there should be moresupport for reintroducing them to the wild.• Local people should receive training inorder to be able to take part in monitoringand guided tours of bison.• Rewilding Europe does not regard hunting ofbison as opportune at this stage. Focus shouldbe on improving the conservation status ofthe species through setting targets in growthrates and population size, as well as increasingits distribution range by establishing viablepopulations in different parts of Europe.The Tarcu mountainsare one of the mostscenic locationsin Europe to viewbison in their naturalsurroundings, withthe potential to growinto a major touristattraction to supportthe local, ruraleconomy37