BACKGROUND
Urgent actions for the recovery of European Bison populations in Romania project area consists of Tarcu Mountains and Rusca Mountana – Tarcu – Retezat Corridor Natura 2000 sites which together cover around 83,000 ha. The area covers a wide variety of ecosystems – alpine meadows and grasslands, old beech and fir forests, steep cliff formations, and undulating mosaic landscapes with open grasslands intersected by woodlands with a mixture of deciduous tree species, including oak.
Although the region hosts a rich variety of wildlife species (wolf, Eurasian lynx, brown bear, red deer, roe deer, chamois, etc.) the ongoing, large-scale abandonment of traditional farmland has created an urgent need to re-introduce the lost wild-living large herbivores and boost up the numbers of the already living large mammals to maintain the diversity of these landscapes. Therefore, the vision for the area would also include having herds of European bison, red deer and chamois once again shaping the vegetation. This, in turn, will provide the basis for bringing back lost species such as the griffon vulture. The European beaver also had an old home in the Mountain Rivers – although it has been locally extinct for centuries. With the conservation measures and the ‘rewilding’ of the region, new economic opportunities will arise. The region has the potential to become a first-class destination for both domestic and foreign visitors. Right now, it is an almost ‘forgotten’ corner of Romania. As bison specialist agree that the Carpathians have the highest potential in Europe for a meta population, a feasibility study was conducted by Catanoiu S. and R. Deju (2012), to prepare the re-introduction of the European bison.
PROJECT GOAL:
The overall aim of the LIFE RE-Bison Project is to enable the successful recovery of the European Bison in the Tarcu and Poiana Rusca Mountains in southwest Romania. With only around 1,450 free-living animals distributed in 14 isolated populations in the EU, of which only 5 populations (all in Poland) exceed 100 bison, the species is considered “vulnerable” and efforts should be made to create larger, self-sustaining populations. The low genetic diversity of some of these populations is an additional challenge.
The specific objectives of the project are:
- To establish one free living, genetically and demographically viable population of European bison with more than 100 animals selected, transported and reintroduced in Tarcu and Poiana Rusca Mountains, Romania;
- To establish a European bison breeding centre in Hunedoara Zoo that will support the reintroduction process on long term;
- To create new economic activities in the area using the bison as the main attraction;
- To reduce conflicts between free living bison and rural economic activities to stimulate a generally positive attitude amongst the local stakeholders in favour of the European bison;
- To increase the interest amongst the general public for the conservation of the European bison.
PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Support offered to the Urgent actions for the recovery of European bison populations in Romania project local team to:
- Select and purchase at least 22 European bison (Bison bonasus) individuals to the selected project sites.
- Support relocation/ transport and reintroduction of at least 22 European bison individuals to the selected project sites.
SPECIFIC TASKS OF THE CONSULTANT FOR POINT A. Selection and purchase at least 22 European bison individuals to the selected project site will be to:
- select at least 22 specimens of European bison to be transported in Romania from other European countries and Romania in the two reintroduction sites from Armenis and Poieni in 2019; the selection of bison specimens will be done in consultation with WWF Romania and with the written notice of acceptance for the selected specimens from WWF Romania project implementation team; the consultant will be in contact with the main sources of European bison in Europe to prepare a short list of available bison individuals that are appropriate to be purchased and relocated for the purpose of the project, based on age, sex ratio, pedigree and health criteria; the consultant will facilitate the signing of a framework contract between WWF Romania and the main sources/ centres for European bison; it will negotiate a price/specimen and will facilitate the actual purchase of the individuals;
- transport one of the selected individuals of European bison (a female) in the breeding centre of Hunedoara Zoo.
- coordinate the European bison collection; arrange the logistics with the breeders for the collection of at least 22 selected specimens;
- create bloodline documents for each of the selected specimens on the long list – the selection of the individuals to be relocated and reintroduced will be based on these documents in order to avoid inbreeding as much as possible. The bloodline will be developed based on the information available in the annual Pedigree Books which collect all the available information on births, deaths, relocations of captive European bison; correlate the bloodline results with the genetic ones – if available;
- elaborate identification sheets for each one of the selected European bison individuals to be transported in order to help the recognition of the individuals during their captivity period in Romania, before the actual reintroduction into the wild;
- collect the blood and faeces samples in the country of origin of the European bison selected specimens that will be then tested in Romania – the mandatory tests according to EU legislation run by the National Sanitary-Veterinary Authority;
- assist WWF team in installing the collars on the selected individuals to be transported in 2019 and in setting out the data plans; will be the direct contact with the producer of the collars for any technical assistance issues regarding collars and their functioning, data plans or database platform during this process;
- facilitate the relationship with the European Bison Conservation Centre – EBCC; will get the EBCC point of view on the list of specimens to be relocated to the reintroduction sites;
- elaborate all the necessary transportation documents together with the veterinarian authorities, breeders, new owners of the captive animals in Romania and local vets – traces documents and certificates of origin for all the transported specimens;
- maintain the relationship and contact with the regional representatives of the sanitary-veterinary authorities from the relevant counties for the reintroduction initiative – in Caras-Severin and Hunedoara– will work together with them on issues related to blood analysis and traces necessary for the transportation of the selected individuals of European bison.
ANTICIPATED DELIVERABLES FOR POINT A. Selection and purchase at least 25 European bison individuals to the selected project site:
- monthly technical reports on the status of the activities to be carried out;
- the list of selected specimens to be purchased and relocated will be provided until end of February 2019;
- the bloodline and identification sheets for each selected individual;
- certificate of origins for each specimen relocated;
- the medical reports from the Sanitary Veterinary Authorities;
- the annual report to EBCC;
- list of European bison breeders that will provide the European bison in 2019 (including contact data);
- one final report on the activities carried out at the end of the contractual period;
SPECIFIC TASKS OF THE CONSULTANT FOR POINT B. Relocate/ transport and reintroduce at least 22 European bison individuals to the selected project site will be to:
- be the contact entity with the transport company to coordinate the logistics of the transportation of all the selected European bison individuals – set up the pickup calendar, the itinerary, the details specific for the loading up of the animals in compartments, like age, weight, gender, but also specific for feeding and watering of the animals or other animal welfare aspects that have to be taken into account during long transportations;
- develop and coordinate the implementation of a soft-release protocol that includes the calendar of the transition from acclimatization to rewilding enclosures;
- coordinate and supervise the regular collection of faeces and blood samples from the bison from inside the acclimatization and rewilding facilities and in case of immobilisation to be tested for diseases and parasite load– schedule to be agreed with WWF Romania project team; WWF Romania will be responsible for sending the samples to partner labs from Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca Veterinary Medicine Universities and Sanitary-Veterinary regional offices;
- coordinate all the immobilizations done into the soft-release facilities and into the wild; will work closely with the veterinarians subcontracted by WWF Romania to establish immobilization protocols that are specific for each context – in which conditions e.g. places, timing, order of animals and substances to be used; will advise WWF Romania’s Project Manager upon the necessity or opportunity to carry out immobilizations in emergency cases or for installing the GPS collars;
- advise WWF Romania project team on the necessity to carry out medical treatment for the semi-captive European bison; will do regular field visits to monitor the health status of semi-captive European bison, together with the subcontracted veterinarian and WWF field team – schedule to be determined together with WWF Romania team, depending on the situation; will set up a treatment protocol together with the veterinarian if certain symptoms are identified;
- develop and coordinate the implementation of a feeding protocol – calendar and feeding places and methods – together with the subcontracted veterinarian, that will take into account the period of the year and captivity conditions in order to keep the immune system up, reduce the metabolic stress during the acclimatization and to increase the survival probability of the roaming free population or to mitigate the potential bison-human conflicts;
- assist WWF team in the relationship with the regional representatives of the sanitary-veterinary authorities for necropsies and emergency situations.
ANTICIPATED DELIVERABLES FOR POINT B. Relocate and reintroduce at least 25 European bison individuals to the selected project site:
- monthly technical reports on the status of the activities to be carried out;
- transportation protocols specific for each case;
- immobilization protocol specific for each situation;
- medical treatment protocol – if needed for semi-captive European bison and for free-roaming European bison
- feeding protocol specific for each situation;
- soft-release protocol for each group of European Bison;
TIME FRAME: 06th of November 2018 – 31 of September 2019
REPORTS TO:
– WWF Romania Project Manager.
WORKS WITH:
– WWF Romania Project Manager;
– WWF Romania Project Officer;
– Project partners (mayors, veterinarians, bison rangers, foresters, etc.).
KEY REQUIREMENTS:
- Good coordination skills;
- At least 4 years of proven experience of the consultant or of the staff members of an organisation in working with European bison immobilizations, relocations and reintroductions;
- At least 4 years of proven experience of the consultant or of the staff members of an organisation in working in the conservation and management of European bison.
If you are interested in joining the global WWF team, email your supporting documents including your price offer to [email protected]. Application deadline: 1st of November2018. For more information on the WWF- DCP RO, kindly check the website: http://romania.panda.org/