“Bison is a symbol of an animal that has been saved thanks to gardens like ours, of which we are particularly proud. Without this species, it is difficult to imagine our Wrocław Zoo. It is worth visiting them and seeing this year’s cubs with your own eyes,” Joanna Kasprzak, CEO of the Wrocław Zoo, said.

The cubs have been named following the requirements of the Bison Pedigree Book. The names of all bison of the Białowieża lineage from Polish breeding begin with the letters “PO”.

The calves’ dad is the only bull in the herd called Pompon.

Bison inspire justifiable respect; they are called the kings of the forest and have been described as one of the symbols of Polish forests since the Middle Ages. At one point in time, only a king could hunt them, but this changed over the centuries and led to the extinction of the European bison. In the interwar period, there was no longer a single individual of the lowland bison in Polish forests.

The population of the European bison was reconstituted from a pool of 12 bison individuals from different zoos and breeding farms. Currently, the population is unthreatened. According to the Bison Pedigree Book, at the end of 2022, there were more than 10,500 individuals in the world and more than 2,600 in Poland, of which nearly 2,400 live free-roaming and the rest in enclosures and zoos.