Today I crossed from Germany into Poland, having changed into my cosy knitted winter clothes, as February in Poland is chilly, even for a bear!
I was most excited to experience the incredible Białowieża Forest, the last remaining primeval forest in lowland Europe and the world’s last refuge for European Bison, Europe's heaviest land animal. As I hiked through the verdant undergrowth, I was surprised to learn that my ancestors used to live here too – but due to hunting and World War 1, there haven’t been bears in the forest since 1917.
I decided to ask the bison (who I can communicate with because of course all animals can talk to each other) if any of them remembered living alongside bears, and they told me it was impossible for any of them to tell me that, as the bison were wiped out of the forest at that point too. I had thought they’d lived there for centuries, so they gathered round to tell me the sad story of their species. After centuries of being hunted nearly but not quite to extinction by a series of Russian Tsars who would lift and impose hunting bans depending on their personal views, during World War I the forest suffered heavy losses.
The German army seized the area in August 1915 and started to hunt the animals. By 25 September 1915, at least 200 bison were killed, and an order was issued forbidding hunting in the reserve. However, German soldiers, poachers and Soviet marauders continued the slaughter until February 1919 when the area was captured by the Polish army. After over a thousand years of habitation, the last bison had been killed just a month earlier.
In 1923 it was known that only 54 European bison survived in zoos all around the world, none of them in Poland. In 1929, a small herd of four was bought by the Polish state. These animals were of the slightly different Caucasian subspecies. To protect them, in 1932 most of the forest was declared a national park. The reintroduction proved successful, and by 1939 there were 16 bison in Białowieża National Park. There are now over 500, some of which had shared their story with me.
Despite facing challenges from Government-endorsed logging which defies EU laws, the bison population of the forest is growing once more, and a huge number of Polish and Belorussian volunteers and rangers protect and care for the herds.
Some of these came to see the bison while we were talking, who (after initial disappointment I didn’t intend to stay in the forest) were happy to help with my research. Poland, which hosted COP24 – the Convention of Climate Change conference – in 2019, took a positive stance in helping establish the Katowice Rulebook, an evolution of the Paris Agreement. However, the country refused to back away from coal, a major source of industry and employment – and in a move that some may consider beyond parody, the Polish government decided to deck the halls of the exhibition centre with piles of coal. As delegates entered the hall, escaping the sweet air of Katowice, fragrant with smell of coal, they were greeted by a band of coal miners. Needless to say, this didn’t go down well, but it illustrate the answers are never simple – the miners are concerned for their livelihoods.
But with an increasing number of droughts, hurricanes and hailstorms hitting the country due to climate change, this show of resistance may be short-lived.
In the meantime, my friendly herd of bison have agreed to company through to Belarus, and I’ve even been allowed to ride on their backs to rest my paws for a little while!