Țarcu Mountains · Caraș-Severin · 17 May 2014 # The bison came home One of Europe's heaviest land animals — the European bison (Bison bonasus), also called the wisent — was gone from our Carpathians for some 200 years, hunted to the last. A few dozen survived in pens and zoos, but only twelve passed their genes to every bison alive today. Then on 17 May 2014, at Armeniș, the village priest blessed 17 bison off the trucks and opened the road to the mountain. Today over 200 roam free in Țarcu and its neighbours (the Southern Carpathians landscape, June 2025). Below you climb with them year by year, on the real mountain, in 3D — and learn what nobody can promise about their future. Scroll: down into the valley before the herd. By Marius Comper · 30 September 2026 ## Where the bison roams today Romania has three free-roaming bison strongholds: the big one in the Țarcu Mountains (Armeniș, Caraș-Severin) — over 200 animals across the whole landscape (June 2025); the young one in Făgăraș (Pecineagu, Bunea, Lerești, Nucșoara) — dozens; and the first, at Vânători-Neamț — the first modern release, 22 March 2012. The fourth, Poiana Ruscă, closed — the hollow dot on the map. This is the story of the big stronghold; but it starts with the emptiness. Țarcu · Armeniș Poiana Ruscă (closed) Făgăraș · Pecineagu Vânători-Neamț Armeniș the range (~300 km², schematic) Outlines: Natural Earth (public domain). Hollow dot: closed hearth. ## The valley without bison It looked much like this for two centuries: forests, meadows, wolves, bears, deer — but no bison. The last Transylvanian traces date from around 1810, the northern Carpathian arc's from around 1852. The mountain had forgotten the shape of its hoofprint. All that time the species hung by a thread: in 1919 the last wild lowland bison fell at Białowieża, in 1927 the last Caucasian one. Everything since descends from 12 captive animals — only 7 of them for the lowland line; the tally, below. ## 17 May 2014: seventeen step off the trucks Seventeen bison from Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Italy reached Armeniș after journeys of thousands of kilometres. The village priest blessed them on their way into a 15-hectare acclimatisation pen, with a gate to a big 160-hectare one. Freedom came in stages: first the small pen, then the big one, then the mountain. On 30 June the new herd's first calf was born in the pen — a sign the mountain welcomes them. By autumn the big pen awaited. ## First the herd, then freedom More arrived in June 2015 — with the press announcing 18 before anyone had counted. The serious tally, after the event: 28 bison living in Țarcu, in pens, 14 of them — the founding group — already through to the big pen, one step closer to freedom. The project's register (the LIFE guidelines) marks 2016 as the year of the great release: 29 animals into full freedom — the 2014 and 2015 groups out with the new ones. But the winter of 2016 showed the price: four dead bison, at least two mauled by stray dogs. ## Spreading north — and the Poiana lesson They kept coming: 10 in 2016, 9 in 2017, then 23 in May 2018 — 14 of which opened a second stronghold at Poiana Ruscă, near Densuș. In September 2018 Poiana released its first bison. In 2019 over 60 roamed free across both strongholds. But Poiana would close: feeders too close to villages, bison in gardens, the permit cancelled. The lesson stayed written in the project guidelines: don't build the pen by the village, don't overrate the mountain. The project moved its weight back to Armeniș. ## Past a hundred — and new blood arrives In 2020 eight bison joined the 57-plus already free — and 24 animals together were the biggest group seen in Romania in over 200 years. Spring 2021 brought 13 females, for new blood, and that autumn the AFP news agency counted about 105 free in Țarcu. Summer had also brought a European first: 7 bulls moved together after six months side by side in Germany. The register counts 26 releases in 2021 — but the documented transports (the females and the bulls) are a different measure than releases, so the tallies don't reconcile directly. The honest mismatch, under Method. ## Unstoppable: 145, 170, ten years By end of 2022 at least 145 bison roamed the landscape — with a 2022 project estimate near 180, based on the genetic samples. In May 2024, ten years after the first release, the anniversary brought 14 new bison (10 from Germany, 4 from Sweden), the first of the new LIFE programme, 2024–2029. Meanwhile Făgăraș grew its own stronghold: 8 arrived in 2019, released in May 2020 "after more than 200 years", Făgăraș's first wild calf in November 2020 — and the 2024 report counts 81 released and 25 calves born there. ## 2025: over 200 — and the questions In June 2025 Rewilding Europe counted over 200 free bison in the Southern Carpathians. From 17 in 2014, across some 300 square kilometres. A 2011 model had said south-western Romania could hold 421 females — the mountain people chose was the one science had pointed at. But nobody knows how many the mountain truly holds, who pays for trampled hay, or where bison cross from valley to valley. The story of the numbers — and the unknowns — below. ## Look at the mountain yourself Pick the year, then rotate the mountain with mouse or finger. The wheel, two-finger pinch or the + and − buttons zoom in and out. ## How it vanished: valley by valley, no witnesses at the end The bison didn't die in a day — it withdrew from valley to valley over centuries. The last Transylvanian traces date from around 1810 — a date kept through a chain of specialists (Deju, 2005, after Nachlyk, 1992), which we give with its authors' names. In the northern arc — Călimani, Bârgău, Rodna — the bison held on until around 1852, per a 2022 paper gathering place-names and hunt history. The last hunted one on record: at Leșu, in Bârgău (after Filipașcu). Bison in the Białowieża Forest, Poland — where the last wild lowland bison fell in 1919. Photo: Almersandro, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. In places the soil remembers better than paper: at Călineasa–Șesu Gârzii in Bihor lie the first radiocarbon-dated bison remains from the Romanian Carpathians — one around 1550, another around 1645, some 200 years before the last ones were hunted. Grass-eating animals that ranged over small areas, in a cold age. The world's end came in two blows: in spring 1919 the last wild lowland bison fell at Białowieża, in 1927 the last Caucasian one. (Some pages write 1925 for the Caucasus — a relay chain with no primary source; the pedigree book gives 1927, and we go with it.) Nothing remained but pens and zoos. ## Twelve — of which seven Every bison on Earth today — over 12,000 at end of 2024, nearly 10,000 of them free, per the pedigree book's census — descends from 12 animals. Not that only 12 survived: on 31 December 1924, 66 were alive (33 males, 33 females), in private collections and zoos. But only 12 passed their genes to every bison alive today — and of the 12, only 7 make up the lowland line's stock (the rest lead to the mountain, lowland-Caucasian line). One of the narrowest gates any large European mammal ever passed through and lived. Wiking, a famous Białowieża bull — of the line that passed through the gate of twelve. Photo: Bouke ten Cate, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Romania's bison are of the lowland-Caucasian (LC) line — the one recommended for mountains, rarer worldwide: under half the world's bison are LC, under a quarter of those in the European Union. When you look for animals to bring in, only a third of the centres asked have what's needed — every one of these figures from the project's LIFE guidelines. That's why every transport — Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Britain — is a small diplomatic victory. And yet the narrow gate holds: dung samples gathered in Țarcu in July 2022 — 292 samples, 93 animals told apart genetically — show no loss of genetic diversity since reintroduction, and the population carries most of the LC line's global diversity. The estimate: 152 animals (95% credible interval: 121–195) — in line with the field tallies. The project's round 2022 estimate, about 180, came from the same year — the 121–195 interval covers it. Bison tracked at Bunea, in Făgăraș — the young stronghold, the same LC line. Photo: Călin Șerban, via Fundația Conservation Carpathia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. ### The international signature In December 2020 the International Union for Conservation of Nature moved the bison from "vulnerable" to "near threatened": wild numbers had grown from about 1,800 in 2003 to over 6,200 in 2019. Not the final victory — proof the gate of twelve leads somewhere. ## How much a bison weighs: stand beside it The figures below are maxima measured on 375 animals (Krasińska & Krasiński, 2002), not talk: bulls reach 188 cm at the shoulder and 300 cm long; cows 167 cm and 270 cm. On the scales, the maxima are captive ones: 920 kg the bull, 640 kg the cow (free-ranging: 840 and 540). Calves are born 24–27 kg (WWF Romania, 2020) and ~70 cm tall (after an older paper) — dog-sized, beside a half-tonne mother. Mother and calf: calves are born reddish and darken within months. Photo: Aleksander Rękawek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. ### Stand beside the herd Tell us how tall you are and see where the bison reaches on you — bull, cow, calf. The drawings are schematic, to scale from measured maxima. Your height (cm): At 170 cm: the bull's shoulder (188 cm) tops you by 18 cm; the cow is 167 cm at the shoulder, the calf 70 cm. Worth knowing on the trail: calves are born reddish and darken within months; gestation runs about 9 months (WWF Romania, 2020); bulls roam alone outside the rut (mating season) and winter. And the internet records ("1,900 kg bull") rest on nothing measured — we leave them out. ## What the bison does to the forest — and what a model says about climate The bison gardens the forest: grazing, nibbling bark and shoots, trampling, fertilising, wallowing hollows — holding open the mosaic of forest, scrub and meadow where dozens of other species live. In Făgăraș, where it was measured (the foundation's 2024 report), its presence has significant effects in clear-cuts and riversides — with an early result showing faster recovery in clear-cuts (in mature beech and spruce, no effect showed). In Țarcu the animals climb past 2,000 metres to the alpine belt — higher than the 1,200-metre limit known at Vânători-Neamț (both after the 2022 paper). ### Science had called the place Three years before the first release, a model published in 2011 reckoned the Carpathians could hold a viable metapopulation (a network of linked populations): 151 habitat patches, capacity up to 8,038 females — the model counts females, not all animals. And Romania's largest patch, 421 females, lay in the south-west, in Țarcu country. "Reintroductions are the most cost-effective path," said the model — especially with road crossings between herds. People chose the mountain; science had pointed at it already. ### The 54,000 tonnes — mistake included In May 2024 a Yale University model reckoned 170 bison, on 48 square kilometres of grassland in a 300-square-kilometre landscape, help capture some 54,000 tonnes of carbon a year — nearly 10 times more than without bison, methane accounted for. The median matches, on the authors' maths, the average cars taken off the road: 43,000 American (or 123,000 more efficient European ones). And the "nearly 10 times" multiplier could itself, the authors say, be up to 55% higher or lower — so the total is uncertain too. And now the part press releases skip: the first announcement spoke of 2 million tonnes — a coding error, admitted and retracted; The Guardian corrected its article on 16 May 2024. Pages still writing "54,000 tonnes of CO₂" get the unit wrong: the model counts tonnes of carbon, not of CO₂. We tell you all this so you keep the frame: it's a model, its first output, not a measurement — and that's exactly why it's interesting. ## The neighbours: 89% love, electric fences, one criminal file In 2020 a project survey showed 89% of people in Armeniș and Densuș find the bison beautiful and important. But love runs through electric fences — over 9 kilometres, paid by the project (since 2019) — and a local intervention team, with 28 animals collared with GPS in 2021 and virtual fences around fields and orchards. ### What works - Stray dogs, the common enemy: in January 2016 four bison of about 30 were found dead — at least two mauled by dogs, among them the first calf conceived and born wild in the Southern Carpathians. At Vânători-Neamț, where 20 bison then lived beside a wolf pack, the wolves had never attacked. - A snare, a calf, a criminal file: on 9 January 2020 rangers found a wild calf under a year old near Rusca, caught in a snare — probably a poacher's. The calf was freed within 4 hours, police present, and a criminal file was opened. The culprit was never caught. - Local people, on the team: permanent presence, a visitor centre, over 1,000 visitors between 2014 and 2017 — and "bison-smart communities", as the project calls them. ### What hurts - The 2017 quarrel: a local paper asked where the money went and why dead bison turn up. WWF's reply (10 July 2017): the animals are donated, not bought; the money went on pens, transports, studies and salaries; the LIFE-Bison programme: €1,816,991, 75% from the EU. Bluetongue deaths (a disease of ruminants) admitted — no count given. - The institutional jam — admitted by WWF too: the Țarcu site without a custodian since 2013, the Natura 2000 file (the European protected-areas network) unanswered in 2017, damage hard to prove (it counts only with camera proof, and only for bison) and to compensate. - The neighbour's hay: in Făgăraș in 2024, bison in hayfields and an orchard — gently driven off, one moved. At Poiana the conflict closed the stronghold. ### To remember on the mountain: 100 metres The bison is a wild, dangerous animal. The project's official rule: stay at least 100 metres away, always. If it twitches its tail or paws the ground, widen the distance. Flash annoys it. Not an animal to photograph up close — a neighbour to respect from afar. ## Aurochs or bison? The arms with two truths Moldova's arms bear a horned head — but whose? The laws say aurochs: the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and Romania's Law 102/1992 both write "aurochs head". And the 1359 chronicle says Dragoș founded Moldova "after an aurochs" — in Slavonic tur, not zubr (bison). The aurochs (Bos primigenius), ancestor of cattle — another species than the bison, gone in 1627. Print from Iconographia Zoologica, Amsterdam, public domain. But the drawing wandered: coins from Ștefan to Ștefăniță show the slide from aurochs to bison; late chronicles already write "bison"; 19th-century seals and the United Principalities' arms (1859–1866) draw a bison head in about 80% of cases (after Cernovodeanu, 1977). The historians' explanation: the aurochs had long perished, the bison still lived — and craftsmen drew what they knew. So the arms hold two truths: the law says aurochs, the drawing often shows bison. And the true aurochs — wild ox, ancestor of cattle, forever confused with the bison — died out last in 1627, a cow, at Jaktorów in Poland (after Heck). When you look at the arms, judge for yourself: long lyrate (lyre-shaped) horns mean aurochs; hump and mane mean bison. ## Eight sentences: true or false? From everything you read above. Choose, then check — the answers are in the text. - The bison was gone from Romania exactly 200 years, from 1814 to 2014. - Every bison today descends from 12 captive animals, 7 of which for the lowland line. - The first bison released at Armeniș got full freedom on 17 May 2014 itself. - The 2022 genetic samples show no loss of genetic diversity in the Țarcu herd. - The 54,000 tonnes of carbon a year are an amount measured directly on the mountain. - On the mountain, the official rule is to stay at least 100 metres from bison. - On Moldova's arms, law and drawing always meant the same animal. - The Poiana Ruscă stronghold closed after conflicts with locals. Pass it on ## How we worked and what we don't know ### The 3D scene The terrain is real: the digital elevation model of the Țarcu Mountains (Terrarium tiles, SRTM sources), from which the scene is cut. Release markers, spread rings and the herd dots are schematic: they show years and strongholds, not the animals' real positions — nobody has published raw GPS tracks with times, and every dot is drawn around Armeniș, whatever the stronghold. The dots also change measure: 17 are arrived animals (2014), 29 are releases (2016), the rest are population milestones (60, 105, 170, 200 — round figures, with "over" where the source gives it). Year numbers come from the project register (the LIFE guidelines, table 2) and dated milestones, each with its source; the page does no sums of its own and doesn't repeat the press releases' "nearly 100", which can't be reproduced from the project reports. The "Stand beside the herd" drawings are schematic, to scale from measured maxima (shoulder heights). ### What we couldn't verify How many exactly arrived in June 2015 (14, 15 or 18 — the page says "28 lived", a post-event figure); the 2021 mismatch between the register's 26 releases and the two documented transports (13 females, 7 bulls) — different measures, not to be subtracted; no Țarcu transports found in 2022–2023 (the LIFE gap — the page invents none); disease or adaptation death counts (the guidelines describe the pattern — young males, 2016–18 — but give no figures); the 1852 Tibău paper (bot-walled — known through the 2022 paper's account); the 1762/1790 dating (unsourced — omitted); fresh censuses at Poiana, free Făgăraș and Vânători-Neamț. The project texts speak of several "500"s (a 2014 dream, a metapopulation plan, a stability threshold) — they aren't the same thing, and the page doesn't use them. ### Images and data Photos: RedPandaRomania, Călin Șerban (via Fundația Conservation Carpathia), Aleksander Rękawek, Almersandro (CC BY-SA 4.0), Bouke ten Cate (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons; the aurochs print: Iconographia Zoologica, University of Amsterdam (public domain). Terrain: Terrarium tiles (SRTM sources). Outlines: Natural Earth (public domain). ## Sources - The bison pedigree book, Białowieża brochure: the 12/7 founders, 1919 the lowland, 1927 the Caucasus. - Deju, 2005: the captive return (Hațeg 1958, Dragoș-Vodă 1969) and the last Transylvanian traces, around 1810 (after Nachlyk 1992). - Dănilă et al., Forests 2022 ([DOI 10.3390/f13060920](https://doi.org/10.3390/f13060920)): the northern arc to around 1852, the Vânători-Neamț 2012–2019 series (30), the north-expansion model. - Bojar et al., EGU2015: the Bihor skull, ~1550/~1645, the first dated remains from the Romanian Carpathians. - [IUCN news, 10 December 2020](https://iucn.org/news/species/202012/european-bison-recovering-31-species-declared-extinct-iucn-red-list): from "vulnerable" to "near threatened", 1,800 (2003) → 6,200+ (2019). - The LIFE Bison guidelines: table 2 of releases (2016: 29 … 2021: 26), staged freedom, the Poiana lesson. - Rewilding Europe + WWF Romania event pages, 2014–2024 ([the first release, 2014](https://rewildingeurope.com/news/finally-back-on-stage-after-more-than-250-years/)): year-by-year transports, calves, the 10-year anniversary (14 bison, 31 May 2024). - Fundația Conservation Carpathia reports 2022–2024 ([the 2024 report, in English, PDF](https://www.carpathia.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/FCC_2024-Annual-Report_EN.pdf)): Făgăraș — 81 released + 25 calves, the 2024 conflicts. - Retez et al., Białowieża-centenary abstract, September 2023: 292 samples, 152 (121–195), no evidence of diversity loss. - Kuemmerle et al., Journal of Applied Ecology 2011 ([DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01954.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01954.x)): 151 patches, 8,038 females, 421 in the south-west. - The Yale / Global Rewilding Alliance report, May 2024 + [the corrected release (PDF)](https://animatingcarbon.earth/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Bison-climate-heroes-Corrected-Press-release-embargo-0001-on-Thursday-16th-May-2024-1.pdf): 54,000 tonnes of carbon, ±55% on the multiplier; the theoretical frame: Rizzuto et al. 2024 ([DOI 10.1029/2024JG008026](https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JG008026)); the Guardian correction ([16 May 2024](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/15/bison-romania-tarcu-2m-cars-carbon-dioxide-emissions-aoe), the coding error). - WWF Romania's reply of 10 July 2017: LIFE money, bluetongue, fences, the institutional jam. - Rewilding Europe's coexistence guide: 100 metres, tail and hoof, flash. - Bercu: aurochs vs bison in heraldry; the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova art. 12; Law 102/1992. - Krasińska & Krasiński 2002: body maxima on 375 animals. - The strongholds map: Natural Earth outline (public domain); stronghold coordinates: Nominatim (© [OpenStreetMap](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) contributors). 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