Czech bison to help rebuild Ukrainian herd devastated by Russia’s war

Three male European bison from Czechia’s Milovice reserve will be sent to Ukraine to help restore a herd devastated by the war.

Conservation organization Česká krajina is donating the animals to Zalissia National Nature Park near Kyiv. The park lost all its male bison during the war, leaving its surviving herd unable to reproduce.

The animals are due to undergo veterinary examinations in early November, with transport planned in the following weeks, the Czech organization said Friday.

The donation agreement was signed at the Ukrainian Embassy in Prague by Česká krajina Director Dalibor Dostál and the Ukrainian park’s director, Taras Kohut.

Zalissia covers approximately 150 square kilometers on the boundary between the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, about 40 kilometers from central Kyiv.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the park had 22 European bison. Half its adult animals did not survive the fighting, according to the conservation organization. Its last bull died from stress following a missile explosion.

Without new males from European breeding populations, the remaining herd would continue to age without producing calves.

The donation follows a cooperation agreement signed by the two organizations in November 2024. The Ukrainian Embassy has helped address the veterinary paperwork required for the transfer.

The planned move will also support a breeding facility intended to contribute to the recovery of bison populations elsewhere in Ukraine.

Members of the public can contribute through the Bison for Ukraine fundraising campaign.

Donations will primarily cover veterinary examinations and the animals’ transport. Remaining funds will support the construction of the breeding facility, for which the park has received materials from UNESCO.

The planned enclosure covers 32 hectares and has a perimeter of approximately 2.4 kilometers.

Česká krajina said the animals would occupy land that either had not been mined or had already been cleared by a bomb disposal specialist. That assessment concerns the condition of their designated habitat rather than a guarantee against the wider risks of war.

The three bulls will come from a reserve established in 2015 on former military land at Milovice, northeast of Prague.

Now covering 350 hectares, it is Czechia’s largest reserve for large grazing animals. More than 100 European bison, wild horses and cattle bred to resemble extinct aurochs live across its open grasslands.

The transfer will give animals raised at the Czech reserve a role in rebuilding a Ukrainian herd that currently has no means of sustaining itself.