BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 25. The IDEA Association, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, and WWF Azerbaijan brought 10 more bison from Germany to Azerbaijan on November 24 as part of the bison reintroduction project, the press service of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan told Trend.
The imported bison will be kept in enclosures for some time and after the adaptation period, they will be released in the territory of Shahdagh.
Since the end of 2012 IDEA, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, and the Azerbaijani office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have been working intensively on the reintroduction of bison into the country's wild.
In accordance with the Cooperation Agreement signed between IDEA Public Association and Shahdag National Park, 305 hectares have been allocated in Ismayilli section of Shahdag National Park for the restoration of the population of extinct bison and their reintroduction to the country's wildlife, as well as for breeding other species of wild animals for scientific purposes, and a complex for breeding and release of bison into the wild has been built on the territory.
Since May 2019, bison from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands have been imported to Azerbaijan. Twelve bison were imported in 2019, five in 2020, nine in 2021, and 10 in 2022. Along with the natural increase, the number of bison in the territory of Shahdag National Park has now reached 61 bison.
The project is planned to continue until 2028 and bring the number of bison to 100.
After the bison adapt for two years, they are released into the
wild. At the same time, a GPS collar is attached to the animals'
necks to track their movement paths and collect information on
their living habits at a later stage.
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