Banff National Park Authority is clear. Introductions is the first and essential step on the long road that could lead to the return of the type that was during the nineteenth century, people almost decimated. Sixteen pieces, including a pregnant female, is the culmination of many years of efforts and effective management of the entire local natural protected area. Bison but they will have to live in the wild at first slowly getting used to. Now it waits 16 months in a spacious enclosure where they will tries to adapt to frigid climates. Their vital signs and movements will be monitored using special GPS tags and collars equipped with radio. Only then will go to a private reserve with an area of almost 1,200 square kilometers.
"We do not think it would be for the local climate bison pose a problem," says Harvey Locke, a Canadian biologist. "From an archaeological record, we know that there bison easily occurred for 10,000 years. Many there actually changed for the herd of buffalo is actually coming home. "Buffalo herd waited before planting rather adventurous journey. They were first selected and captured the National Park Elk Island, from where the transport boxes headed to Edmonton. But that's their way over. The trucks are in fact closer to a settlement Sundre, where it assumed responsibility "airline". Shipping containers with the buffalo to pasture is shipped helicopters.
The path was not so simple. "That is why today one of the most crucial for conservation efforts in Canada," says Locke. Similarly it sees large mammals expert Karsten Heuer, who during project implementation, he worked as an expert consultant. "The return of the bison to the landscape, it is about correcting mistakes that we made in the 19th century." The two then biologists agree that Banff National Park as one of the first in Canada to provide more than a hundred years animal shelter and now as a pioneer plays a key role in their return to the wild. But not everyone shares the enthusiasm of the presence of bison and plan their future launch into the countryside to build at least tentatively.
They complain mainly farmers from the eastern slopes near Sundre. They fear the fact that the bison could be a selected area to flee and could then need to become carriers of diseases dangerous to livestock. Rich Smith, executive manager of Alberta Beef Producers, warns particularly against infectious tuberculosis and brucellosis. Canadian ranchers also are concerned that while the very effort of stopping the buffalo was to the smallest detail, among nearly unresolved matters include the necessary competencies to capture escaped animals. I Heuer himself admits that there are plenty of work.
"An essential thing now will work in the field of education and awareness-raising," says Heuer. "We have Canadians on the topic just attach themselves more."
Author: Radomír Dohnal
Source: Ekolist.cz
