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Bison, Wild Horses Bring Biodiversity to Ex-Army Base

Associated Press

   Wild horses, bison and other big-hoofed animals once roamed freely in
   much of Europe. Now they are transforming a former military base
   outside the Czech capital in an ambitious project to improve
   biodiversity.

   Where occupying Soviet troops once held exercises, massive bovines
   calledtaurosand other heavy beasts now munch on the invasive plants
   that took over the base years ago.

   The animals are turning the formerMilovicemilitary base 35 kilometers
   (22 miles) northeast of Prague into a miniature version of the steppe
   that once rolled across the European continent.

   With some species wiped out in the wild, the animals now have the
   chance to live together again in relative freedom. Conservationists
   deployed them atMilovicefive years ago. Now they hope to enlarge the
   sanctuary by one third to 360 hectares (890 acres) this year.

   The animals' task is to improve biodiversity among local plants by
   eating invasive ones while saving endangered species, said Dalibor
   Dostal, the director of European Wildlife, an organization behind the
   project.

   "It's a miraculous change," Dostal said. "Nobody expected that the
   whole process would go ahead so fast and the area would change so much
   in just a few years."

   He said the large animals are as key to preserving the ecosystem "as
   trees are for forests."

   David Storch, an environment professor at Prague's Charles University
   who was not involved in the project, agreed. He said the project is
   "absolutely unique" because it shows that nature can be preserved not
   only by protecting it from human activities but also by actively
   shaping it with big-hoofed animals.

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