Scientists from the Belarussian Academy of Science and the National Park “Belovezhskaya Pushcha”, together with the Frankfurt Zoological Society, want to reintroduce bears in the Bialowieza Forest. According to the survey on public opinion in Belarus, about 80 per cent of the inhabitants and workers of the national park support the reintroduction. About 8 bears per year are planned to be translocated, probably from Russia. The brown bear disappeared from the Bialowieza Forest in the second half of the XIX century. In the 30s of the XX century, the Bialowieza National Park conducted a bear reintroduction program, which was disrupted by the World War II. Probably this was the first attempt to reintroduce brown bears in the world. Bears visit the Bialowieza Forest very sporadically. The last observation of a brown bear was in 2010 in the northern part of the Forest. More information about the reintroduction or bear population in Belarus here.
