The employees of the Forest Research Institute were the first (on Friday, June 14th) observers of a bear in the Polish part of the Białowieża Forest. This is the first of reliable observations of this animal for several decades. What was the story behind the meeting with the bear? What are the feelings that accompany a person when meeting a predator face to face?

These and more questions are answered by Karol Rzeczycki and Benedykt Górecki, experienced field employees of the LIFE + ForBioSensing project, acting on behalf of the Forestry Research Institute, who every day take part in a project on monitoring the stands of the Białowieża Forest.

The day for employees of IBL began simply: "At the beginning it was such a typical day - began with a quick morning clearance, after which we were equipped with measuring equipment, we went to the Bialowieza Forest, where we spend all day and measure or observe depending on the entrusted task. "- recalls Karol Rzeczycki. Soon after, it turned out that the day would not be as ordinary as they suspected. "- It may sound like a story from 1000 and 1 night, but we really survived the adventure. In addition, we do not have any pictures ... because we did not think about photographing at the time.

While moving to the next monitoring area, where the condition of the young generation of forest is checked, the workers noticed the shadow of an unidentified animal: - "We noticed the black outline, we thought it was probably a moose or bison, because we are used to seeing them. And Charles casually, unexpectedly added: "I have not seen a large game for a long time." After a while, the mysterious shadow turned and began to walk parallel to the route of workers' movement: "And then I was speechless - it was the truest bear in the world!" - recalls Karol Rzeczycki. "The predator was about 50-60 m away from us, it was really quite big," adds Benedykt Górecki.

The employees of the Forest Research Institute nevertheless kept their cool: "We decided not to pay attention to him, most likely he was looking for food, because the berry season had recently begun," recalls Karol Rzeczycki. "We watched the bear for a short while and then, without disturbing the animal, we began to move away," adds Benedykt Górecki.

Employees returned to the meeting place after a few hours and recorded its location using GPS. The information about the close encounter with the bear along with the location parameters was provided to the Institute of Mammalian Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża. A day later, the predator was registered by one of the IBS photo-traps. As a result, a recording was obtained that confirms the observation of employees of the Forest Research Institute and is an irrefutable proof of the first long presence of a bear in the Polish part of the Białowieża Primeval Forest.

Link to material from the photo-trap: https://bit.ly/31JZj38

Link to material for Polsat News: https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2019-06-18/niedzwiedz-w-polskiej-czesci-puszczy-bialowieskiej-po-raz-pierwszy-od-kilkudziesieciu-lat/

 

with ForBioSensing project employees (Forest Research Institute)

was talking Wirginia Duranowska

 

video: IBS PAN

fot. ForBioSensing