After 200 years of absence, European bison roam the Carpathian Mountains again. Over 170 animals have been released into the Tarcu Mountains of Romania — and the forests are already changing.
The Return of a Giant
The European bison — the heaviest land animal in Europe — was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1927. Only a handful of individuals survived in zoos.
Decades of careful breeding and coordinated reintroduction have changed everything. In the Tarcu Mountains of Romania, Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania released bison into the wild beginning in 2014. Today, over 170 animals roam free in the Carpathians, with more being born in the wild each year.
>> "Where bison walk, the land breathes differently."
The impact is already visible. Bison graze on dense shrubs, opening up forest patches. Their wallows create small wetlands. Their movement through the landscape creates paths that deer, boar, and wolves follow. A single keystone species is quietly restoring an entire ecosystem.
A Model for Europe
The Carpathian bison herd is now one of the largest free-roaming populations in the world. It proves that large-scale rewilding isn't a dream — it's a policy choice.
The Global Rewilding Alliance supports projects like this across five continents. The bison are just the beginning.