There are more and more bison in the Białowieża Forest. According to the Białowieża National Park’s winter inventory of these animals living in the wild in the Polish part of the Forest and in adjacent areas, 892 individuals were counted, including at least 101 calves born in 2023. 

The data on the amount of bison was created on the basis of approximately 170 observations from a two-day count. During the previous inventory – in 2022, 829 bison were counted in the Polish part of the Forest, including nearly 140 calves.

Counting of bison in the Białowieża Forest is always carried out in winter. Employees of the national park, foresters from the Białowieża, Bielsk, Browsk, Hajnówka, Nurzec and Rudka forest divisions, as well as volunteers, count bison, taking advantage of the fact that in winter the animals gather in larger groups in feeding grounds and do not move away from there for a longer period of time. Individual animals can then be traced by tracks in the snow, if there is any. Drones have also been used to count bison for several years.

In the information about the results of this inventory, the park notes that bison are wandering farther and farther away from the Białowieża Forest; ten bison were counted in the Rudka Forest Inspectorate and a dozen animals in the Nurzec Forest Inspectorate.

“Quite a few animals were observed in the fields adjacent to the Forest, where they feed on winter crops or corn. These bison are skittish, often moving and mixing, which makes it difficult to count and verify them”, said the park, pointing out that the inventory provides estimates, due to the size of the population and the vastness of the area, it is not possible to count the animals piece by piece.

Dr Katarzyna Daleszczyk from the BPN’s bison breeding centre pointed out that a large part of the counted population lives outside the Białowieża Forest. It may be even about half of the counted bison. There are also visible migrations of bison from the Białowieża Forest to the Knyszynska Forest.

“This is most beneficial for the population, as these genes mix”, emphasised the expert.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński