Cow Escapes Farm To Join Wild Bison Herd

A domestic cow has done a courageous move and escaped a farm so as to live free with a herd of gigantic bison in Poland’s Bialowieza forest, near the border with Belarus. The young cow trotted away last fall and has been living with her new family ever since.

An ornithologist, Adam Zbyryt, told Polish broadcaster TVN24 that he observed a unit of about 50 bison last November. At the beginning, he thought that the cow was a unique version of a mutated bison. Much smaller in size and with its reddish-brown color it differed than the rest of the herd.

Newly taken footage showed that the cow was running free with its new tribe. However, it was apparently recaptured so it didn’t contaminate the gene pool of about 600 bison left in the country.

After a while, the biologist Rafal Kowalczyk captured the animal again. He noticed that no matter how much it tried, it couldn’t fit in with the group. Even though she stands out, there’s the fact that she managed to survive the winter with her new bison family, which is kind of impressive.

There is a close bond between these animals, but unfortunately it might need to be broken. According to Kowalczyk, something has to be done so as to break this relationship since the cow could die giving birth to a large cow-bison hybrid. Plus it could contaminate the gene pool of the wild bison herd.

Nevertheless, it is unknown whether the cow was recaptured or it is still running free with the wild bison group.

Sources:

independent.co.uk
onegreenplanet.org
dailymail.co.uk