A cousin of the American plains and woodland buffalo, the European Bison, (species Bison bonasus), was a popular subject for painting and sculpting by prehistoric man and was almost hunted to extinction by the early 20th century. Pockets of the bison survived in the Caucasus Mountains and in the primeval forests along Poland’s eastern border with Belarus. There are fewer than 7500 animals left now, with about 4,000 living in the wild.
The few remaining bison, also known as wisent orzubr in Europe, can also be found in zoos and wildlife reserves, one of which is in Pszczyna, in south-western Poland, on the estate of a castle complex, where they are bred in captivity.
Jacek Major, an illustrator of prehistoric life and wildlife, and I visited the Pszczyna reserve a…
