Posted on 09/19/2017 11:50:45 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced on Friday that it is filing charges against an official in eastern Germany who ordered hunters to shoot a bison he claimed was a danger to the public. The conservationists say it was the first wild bison seen in Germany in two and a half centuries.
"Giving permission to shoot a strongly protected animal without a clear potential threat is a criminal offence,” Chris Heinrich, a WWF board member said in a statement which explained why they decided to file charges against the head of a public order office in Brandenburg.
“After more than 250 years a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it.”
A man had spotted the European bison next to the river Oder near the town of Lebus on Wednesday and alerted the authorities, according to police.
The head of the local public order office decided that the bison needed to be killed in order to protect the population and instructed two local hunters to kill the beast on Thursday.
According to Polish authorities, the animal was probably a bull which had been running around the Ujście Warty National Park on the German-Polish border for some time before wandering into the Bundesrepublik.
The European bison is Europe’s largest land mammal and has not been seen in the wild in Germany for over 250 years. They are considered “vulnerable” by conservation bodies internationally and are on the list of Germany’s “strongly protected animals”.
The bison are not known to be dangerous, Brandenburg's Environment Minister Jörg Vogelsänger told Der Tagesspiegel. If they were, then “half of Poland, where the animal is a national symbol, would have to be declared a danger zone,” as they roam freely there, he said.
A spokesperson for the Environment Ministry also suggested that a tranquiliser dart could have been used to neutralise any danger to nearby citizens, which could have been provided by any country vet.
Heinrich blamed a “lack of professionally trained staff in the area”. he added that "the state of Brandenburg has proven itself to be less than professional in its treatment of wild animals in the past, as shown by how it deals with wolves and elk."
Buffalo Wilhelm?
The Germans are thorough
We’ve got extras in the Grand Canyon.
We need to send them some..................
They’re 50 years too late. 200 years is the correct time span.
For the Bison-Tennial.
RIMSHOT!
(I’m here all week. Tip your waitress. Try the veal.)
They are Baden-Baden..................
Didn’t STALIN order the execution of several soviet soldiers who shot a wisent bison there in WWII?
Is this the animal that 2000 years ago caused a revolt against ROME when the Roman official demanded taxes could be paid in the form of ox hides, and he specified the LARGER ox hides?
So, where did this wild bison come from?
The Germans have had a lot of practice Exterminating things.
Migrant bison shouldda carried a koran and prayer rug. Then the Krauts wouldda welcomed him.
The FR Pun Police have rendered a verdict. Turn in yer mouse.
Herman Goering maintained a sporting herd in Poland after Germany took it over. It was his own private shooting preserve. But I believe it was in Eastern Poland, pretty far from Germany.
Wild buffalo jorg.
Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as bill.
That Goering, he was a real piece of work.
It crossed the bearing straight, and originated its journey in South Dakota.
Well, originally, yeah, that likely happened.
But is this specimen a direct wild descendant of those original bison? Or an escapee from some ranch or preserve, i.e., previously tame for generations.
Obviously the line the authorities have to take is, the bison was shot in solidarity with the protests against patriarchy in the US (ref "Buffalo Gal"). Thanks nickcarraway.
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