For once, a piece of good news concerning an endangered species: the European bison, considered officially extinct in the wild since 1927 and entirely absent from German forests for nearly three hundred years.

In the forests surrounding the town of Bad Berleburg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, nine specimens of the species have just been reintroduced and left to live in semi-wild conditions. This is the result of an innovative conservation programme funded by the Berlin government on the estate owned by Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, a territory half the size of Manhattan island that is also home to 300 mouflon, 400 deer, 600 wild boar and several roe deer.

At one time the species was widespread across Russia and northern Europe, but was then decimated by hunting and the progressive loss of habitat. Today there are only 3,000 specimens, all kept in zoos and descended from a dozen bison.

The German project is a first step towards reintroducing the bison into the forests of northern and eastern Europe. This is not the first reversal of extinction: according to a report published in September 2013, 27 species of mammals and birds have already been brought back over the past 50 years thanks to legislative measures and conservation efforts.