Bison roam wild in Cumbria for the first time in 6,000 years | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:03This is [music] Cumbria, home of the
2. 0:06Lake District, England's biggest
3. 0:08national park. With its stunning
4. 0:10countryside and pristine lakes, it draws
5. 0:1320 million visitors a year.
6. 0:16But I'm not here for the views. I'm here
7. 0:17because somewhere on a farm up ahead,
8. 0:20something that hasn't been seen here for
9. 0:216,000 years
10. 0:23>> [music]
11. 0:23>> is making a comeback.
12. 0:29Bison.
13. 0:31The largest land animal in Europe.
14. 0:34They can reach 2 m in height and weigh
15. 0:37as much as a car.
16. 0:39For thousands of years, these giants
17. 0:42roamed from Scotland to Siberia. But by
18. 0:441927,
19. 0:46the species was hunted to extinction and
20. 0:49the European bison disappeared from the
21. 0:51wild.
22. 0:53In 2022, the Wildwood Trust, a small zoo
23. 0:56in Kent, launched an ambitious project
24. 0:59to bring wild bison back to Britain.
25. 1:03And today, they're releasing them in a
26. 1:04new location for the very first time.
27. 1:09Here to oversee the release is Donovan
28. 1:12Wright, one of the only two bison
29. 1:15rangers in the country.
30. 1:22They are extraordinary.
31. 1:25The herd was transported here 30 days
32. 1:27ago and has been in quarantine ahead of
33. 1:29its release.
34. 1:33So wild and almost mythical.
35. 1:36Tell me, Don, why are bison so special?
36. 1:39And then, how close did we come to
37. 1:40losing them?
38. 1:41>> They were officially extinct in the
39. 1:42wild. That was it. But they found 54
40. 1:45animals that were kept in zoos and
41. 1:47wildlife sanctuaries. And from those
42. 1:49animals, 12 of them bred and all
43. 1:52European bison in the world today
44. 1:53[music] can be traced back to those 12
45. 1:56bison. It's history in the making.
46. 2:02>> The bison are being released onto 5,000
47. 2:05acres of farmland where their [music]
48. 2:07presence will transform the ecosystem.
49. 2:13>> So, this is uh bison uh debarking and
50. 2:16it's
51. 2:18You can actually see the bark marks, the
52. 2:19teeth marks. When you see a bison
53. 2:21debarking a tree,
54. 2:22>> Oh my goodness.
55. 2:24>> their teeth are actually You know, the
56. 2:25superpower of European bison is their
57. 2:28ability to create these microhabitats or
58. 2:31homes for other species. You can imagine
59. 2:34bats would be roosting in the cracks in
60. 2:36the in the in the tree. Songbirds would
61. 2:38make use of those hollows and nest
62. 2:40inside.
63. 2:41>> They're kind of opening up the forest
64. 2:43for other creatures.
65. 2:44>> It's amazing.
66. 2:47>> With everything in place, 6,000 years of
67. 2:50waiting is about to come to an end.
68. 2:54I can't believe what we're about to do.
69. 2:56Thrilled. We're making world [music]
70. 2:57history right now.
71. 3:01>> I'm so excited. This is This is the
72. 3:03moment that we live for. I mean, this is
73. 3:053 years of hard work
74. 3:07>> [music]
75. 3:07>> to get to this point.
76. 3:08>> Don't you feel like we should do this
77. 3:09together, really? Come on, let's do it.
78. 3:11>> Ready?
79. 3:11>> 1 2 3
80. 3:23>> So excited.
81. 3:25>> [laughter]
82. 3:26>> They are no words.
83. 3:27>> There's no words to say.
84. 3:28>> Look at that. It's just Oh, look who's
85. 3:30going to have a dust bath.
86. 3:31>> Immediately.
87. 3:37>> Just feels right.
88. 3:39This is where they belong, out there in
89. 3:40the wild.
90. 3:41>> Yeah.
91. 3:42>> Getting on with bison business is
92. 3:44perfect.
93. 3:46Working in conservation, I mean, you
94. 3:47know, I mean
95. 3:50You know, guys, we we There's so many
96. 3:51[music] battles that we lose, you know,
97. 3:53and this is one that we won.
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