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Counted back up
European bison
9,762
Head count
December 2024
Bison bonasus
Free-ranging herds in about 10 European countries; over 90% in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia
Counted December 2024, by the European Bison Pedigree Book, Białowieża National Park (released 2025).
The latest number for the European bison is 9,762 in free-living herds on 31 December 2024, the total in the European Bison Pedigree Book (Białowieża National Park).
Gone from the wild by 1927 and rebuilt from captive survivors, the European bison numbered 9,762 in free-living herds in December 2024.
The European bison is on the wall as an animal counted back up: 0 were known in the wild by 1927 (below the wall's line of 1,000), and the December 2024 head count by the European Bison Pedigree Book found 9,762 in free-living herds, past that line.
How it was counted
The European Bison Pedigree Book keeps the world register of living pure-bred European bison. 9,762 is its total for free-living herds on 31 December 2024; bison in semi-free herds and in captivity are listed separately and are not in this number.
The European Bison Pedigree Book's total for free-living herds on 31 December 2024: a listed total from its world register, not a survey estimate.
Earlier figures
- 0 individuals living free in 1927, a head count: the dated low. Source: Jan Raczyński, editor of the European Bison Pedigree Book at Białowieża National Park, European Bison Conservation Newsletter vol. 1 (2008), pp. 87-104.
- 8,812 on 31 December 2023: the previous count. Source: Białowieski Park Narodowy.
What moves it
The European Bison Pedigree Book reports that bluetongue (a virus disease) appeared in a number of herds in the year of the December 2024 count, most of all in Germany, and killed bison. It gives lost habitat and too many animals taken by people as the reasons the bison vanished from Romania. What brought the number back, by the same source: rebuilding the species from the bison still alive in captivity, then releasing bison into the wild, including in Romania.
- habitat loss and overexploitation (why it vanished from Romania). Source: WWF Romania.
- bluetongue (the BTV-3 virus), which appeared in a number of herds in 2024, especially in Germany, and killed more than 20 bison. Source: Białowieża National Park, European Bison Pedigree Book 2024 (Księga Rodowodowa Żubrów 2024).
Who is helping
The International Society for European Bison Protection, in Germany, started rebuilding the species from the bison still alive in captivity after the last wild herds were killed. In Romania, the Vânători-Neamț Nature Park Administration began returning bison to the wild, and WWF-Romania, working with local communities and Rewilding Europe, has moved bison into the Țarcu Mountains, where they now range free.
The next count
The count is annual (European Bison Pedigree Book). No date for the next release is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- Białowieża National Park, European Bison Pedigree Book 2024 (Księga Rodowodowa Żubrów 2024) Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Jan Raczyński, editor of the European Bison Pedigree Book at Białowieża National Park, European Bison Conservation Newsletter vol. 1 (2008), pp. 87-104 Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Białowieski Park Narodowy„Księga Rodowodowa Żubrów” Last checked 12 November 2026.
- WWF RomaniaWWF Raport Wildlife EN compressed Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall, counted back up: 9,762 (Head count, December 2024).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.