Three wild European bison died on Sunday morning after being hit by a train in Poland's vast UNESCO-listed Bialowieza Forest in the east, the local police told AFP.
According to a police spokesman, a herd of Europe's largest mammals, whose male specimens can reach 900 kilograms (nearly 2,000 pounds), crossed onto the train tracks as a locomotive carrying some 50 passengers between Bialystok and Warsaw was steaming ahead.
"No passenger was injured but three animals perished in this accident, which happened at 7:00 am, near the village of Witowo," spokesman Konrad Karwacki told AFP.
The "Zubr" line train, which takes its name from the Polish word for bison, did not derail and was able to resume its journey around an hour and a half after the collision.
Some 1,200 bison, an emblematic animal in the eastern European country, currently inhabit the Polish part of the great Bialowieza Forest, considered the last primeval woodland in Europe.
The forest, which is divided by the Poland-Belarus border, is a treasure of biodiversity and a giant carbon sink.
Yet several bison fall victim to road accidents in the region every year.
"They are sometimes hit by trains, but these are usually isolated incidents," Professor Rafal Kowalczyk, from a local branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences, told AFP.
"I don't recall an accident where three bison were killed at the same time, run over by a train," the mammals specialist added.
Devastated by hunting, deforestation and the expansion of agriculture, the European bison nearly became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century.
After disappearing from Bialowieza, its last habitat in Europe, before the outbreak of World War II, the species was saved at the 11th hour thanks to the release of bison reared in zoos back into the wild.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.