ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
BULLETIN 
Published by the New York Zoological Society 
Volume XXVI MAY, 1923 Number 3 
THE EUROPEAN BISON; ITS PRESERVATION OR EXTINCTION 
The fate of the largest and once the most conspicuous wild animal of Europe is 
trembling in the balance. For 30,000 years it has roamed the forests of Europe, but 
now is on the very verge of extinction. Its present peril is not due to the acts of cave¬ 
men or savages, but to persecution by “civilized”■ man. Only 52 individuals remain; and 
by good fortune we are able to present three recent photographs of one herd of them, 
with an article by Dr. Theodore G. Ahrens, author of the bison article published in the 
Bulletin of March, 1922. These contributions bring the “Wisent” quite down to date. 
The question of our cooperation with European zoologists in efforts to save the species 
depends upon the practicability of the plans finally proposed. W. T. H. 
PROPOSALS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE EUROPEAN BISON, OR WISENT 
Review of a paper by Dr. Kurt Priemel, Director 
published December 7, 1922, in 
T HOSE interested in the fate of the Europ¬ 
ean bison, or wisent ( Bos bonasus L., Bison 
europaeus Uw .) know that the greatest 
number of bison (about 700 before the great 
war) lived in the vast Lithuanian forest of 
Bjeloviesh, near Grodno, and were rigidly pro¬ 
tected by the former Russian government. A 
smaller number lived in northwestern Caucasia, 
in the Kuban region, chiefly on preserves of the 
Grand Duke Sergius Michaelowitsch, who caused 
them to be protected there. 
We have the statement of Professor Matschie 
of the Berlin Zoological Museum, who does not 
doubt that besides the above, bison exist in the 
wooded regions of Persia to the south of the 
Caspian sea. That author quotes a letter of 
an artist hunting subjects, Peter Paschen, who 
states that while he was in Persia and Afgan- 
istan during the war, he frequently saw there 
freshly killed hides and horns of wisents. He 
also declares that in Rescht and other places on 
the Caspian Sea bison meat and hides were 
frequently offered for sale. The provinces of 
Gilan and Mesanderen are the principal range 
of these bison. A critical examination of the 
skulls of wisents and bisons proves that the 
Caucasian species, ( Bison caucasicus ) is not a 
of the Municipal Zoological Garden in Frankfort, 
the “Deutsche Jager Zeitung." 
subspecies of Bison europaeus (Bos bonasus, 
but rather an independent species, and nearer 
related to Bison americanus than to Bison 
europaeus. The Persian wisent will in all prob¬ 
ability also represent an independent species. 
Besides these there were some 60 European 
bison that have descended from the stock of 
Bjeloviesh, on the estate of Prince Pless in that 
part of the Prussian province of Upper Silesia 
which has been ceded to Poland. On the 
estates of the late Friedrich von Falz-Fein in 
Ascania Nova, Southern Russia, there was quite 
a considerable herd of bison, and the latest 
reports state that although this territory was 
again subjected to the disturbances arising from 
revolution and Bolshevism, about 14 wisents are 
believed to be still- alive there, and may continue 
to survive if the winters are not too severe. The 
remainder are to be found in various zoological 
gardens, not only in Europe, but in non-european 
countries. 
Although the German military authorities did 
what they could to protect the wisents in Bjelo¬ 
viesh which survived their advance in the war, 
upon the withdrawal of the German troops in 
1918, practically all the remaining animals, at 
