Lithuania Makes Unexpected Decision Regarding Border With Belarus

• 26.10.2023, 11:28

It concerns the population of bisons.

Lithuania wants to settle bison in the south of the country, not far from the Belarusian border. According to locals, it was from Belarus that they used to come here, writes Delfi.

In the late 1960s, the Lithuanian authorities decided to restore the bison population. For this purpose, two animals were brought here from the RSFSR, a year later another eight. Since 2003, the herd began to increase rapidly, so they were released into the wild.

Now there are about 250 bison living in the wild in the central regions of Lithuania. As a result of the developed agriculture in the region, there has become too little space for the animals, so 10 years ago they decided to move them to the south, to the Dzukija National Park. It is about 15 kilometres from here to the border with Belarus.

- Bisons are not new in these parts, 40 years ago they used to come from Belarus. People saw them more often, besides, they had farms: pigs, cows, vegetable gardens - beetroot, carrots... But now there is nothing, just meadows. Bison are timid, 8-9 bison live in our forests, but hunters and rangers do not meet them. The bison hide as soon as they sense people," said Vilius Petraška, the headman of Marcinkonis.

The bison sanctuary in the Dzukija National Park is designed for 20-25 bison. It is planned to release the animals into the wild as the population grows.

It should be noted that the current world population of bison is estimated at 8500 heads. Most of them are in Belarus - over 2700, and they are spread throughout the country.

As of the end of 2022, 703 of them lived in the Belarusian part of Belavezhskaya Pushcha. As of the beginning of 2023, 829 individuals were counted in the Polish part of the Reserve.