The European bison was extinct in the wild by 1927 but has been successfully rewilded through captive breeding programs, reaching over 7,000 animals today in a remarkable conservation recovery.
European bison in rewilded populations experience a welfare spectrum from excellent to challenging depending on the quality of habitat and management. In large reserves with adequate forest, browse diversity, and space, bison can express their full behavioural repertoire including seasonal migration, wallowing, and complex social dynamics. Small, fenced reserves with insufficient range create welfare problems through overcrowding, overgrazing, and competition for resources. Bison that venture beyond reserve boundaries into agricultural areas face vehicle collision risk and potential culling. Genetic management of small populations sometimes requires capture and translocation, which is stressful for social animals. The remarkable conservation success of European bison rewilding demonstrates that even species reduced to a tiny genetic bottleneck can recover to welfare-positive wild populations with sustained investment and international coordination.