Escaped cow turns back on farm life to join herd of bison

A COW has surprised biologists after turning its back on domestication and taking up with a herd of bison living in the wilds of eastern Poland.

The cow escaped from a farm in late October and has spent the last three months with the bison in the primeval Bialowieża Forest, which straddles the Polish-belarusian border, despite temperatures dropping to 14F (-10C).

Although cows, like bison, are naturally herd animals, biologists have said the relationship between the cow and its new friends is unusual.

“This is the not the first time that a cow has escaped in the region but it is the first time one has chosen to join a bison herd,” said Dr Rafał Kowalczyk, a biologist monitoring the bison. He said that the bison herd had most likely saved the cow from prowling wolves.

The bison, it appears, have followed their herd instinct and accepted the cow, which poses no threat to them.

But Dr Kowalczyk has warned that the cow’s presence among the bison brings with it dangers.

Speaking to TVN, a Polish television network, he explained that the cow would soon be old enough to breed. “It is possible that they could breed and this could pollute the bison population with a hybrid,” said Dr Kowalczyk.

Bison became extinct in Europe in the early 20th century due to hunting, and it was only in the Fifties that conservation programmes began to reintroduce the continent’s largest land animal back into its natural environment.

The domesticated cow has spent the winter living with a herd of wild bison, which are believed to have kept it safe from wolves that prowl the Bialowieza Forest and surrounding area on the Polish-belarusian border