Bison roam wild in Cumbria for the first time in 6 000 years BBC News

This is Cumbria, home of the Lake District, England's biggest national park. With its stunning countryside and pristine lakes, it draws 20 million visitors a year. But I'm not here for the views. I'm here because somewhere on a farm up ahead, something that hasn't been seen here for 6,000 years is making a comeback. Bison. The largest land animal in Europe. They can reach two metres in height and weigh as much as a car. For thousands of years, these giants roamed from Scotland to Siberia. But by 1927, the species was hunted to extinction and the European bison disappeared from the wild. In 2022, the Wildwood Trust, a small zoo in Kent, launched an ambitious project to bring wild bison back to Britain. And today, they're releasing them in a new location for the very first time. Here to oversee the release is Donovan Wright, one of the only two bison rangers in the country. They are extraordinary. The herd was transported here 30 days ago and has been in quarantine ahead of its release. You're almost mythical. Tell me, Don, why are bison so special? You know, how close did we come to losing them? They were officially extinct in the wild, that was it. But I found 54 animals that were kept in zoos and a lot of sanctuaries. And from those animals, 12 of them bred. And all European bison in the world today can be traced back to those 12 bison. It's history in the making. The bison are being released onto 5,000 acres of farmland, where their presence will transform the ecosystem. So this is bison debarking. You can actually see the bite marks, the teeth marks when you see a bison debarking a tree. Oh my goodness. Their teeth are like chisels. You know, the superpower of European bison is their ability to create these micro-habitats or homes for other species. You can imagine bats would be roosting in the cracks in the tree. Songbirds would make use of those hollows and nest inside. It's that kind of opening up the forest for other creatures. It's amazing. With everything in place, 6,000 years of waiting is about to come to an end. I can't believe what we're about to do. It's surreal. We're making wild history right now. I'm so excited. This is the moment that we live for. I mean, this is three years of hard work to get to this point. Don, I feel like we should do this together. Ready? Come on, let's do it. Ready? One, two, three. So excited. There are no words. There's no words, right? Look at that. Oh, look, he's going to have a dust bowl. Immediately. Just feels right. This is where they belong, out there in the wild. Getting on with bison business is perfect. Working in conservation, I mean, you know, you know, guys, there's so many battles that we lose, you know, and this is one that we won. The Travel Show, your essential guide wherever you're heading. Every weekend on BBC News.