"Giving permission to shoot a strongly protected animal without a clear potential threat is a criminal offence,” Chris Heinrich, a WWF board member said in a statement which explained why they decided to file charges against the head of a public order office in Brandenburg. 
 
 “After more than 250 years a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it.” 
 
 A man had spotted the European bison next to the river Oder near the town of Lebus on Wednesday and alerted the authorities, according to police. 
 
 The head of the local public order office decided that the bison needed to be killed in order to protect the population and instructed two local hunters to kill the beast on Thursday. 
 
 According to Polish authorities, the animal was probably a bull which had been running around the Ujście Warty National Park on the German-Polish border for some time before wandering into the Bundesrepublik. 
 
 The European bison is Europe’s largest land mammal and has not been seen in the wild in Germany for over 250 years. They are considered “vulnerable” by conservation bodies internationally and are on the list of Germany’s “strongly protected animals”. 
 
 The bison are not known to be dangerous, Brandenburg's Environment Minister Jörg Vogelsänger told Der Tagesspiegel. If they were, then “half of Poland, where the animal is a national symbol, would have to be declared a danger zone,” as they roam freely there, he said. 
 
 A spokesperson for the Environment Ministry also suggested that a tranquiliser dart could have been used to neutralise any danger to nearby citizens, which could have been provided by any country vet. 
 
 Heinrich blamed a “lack of professionally trained staff in the area”. he added that "the state of Brandenburg has proven itself to be less than professional in its treatment of wild animals in the past, as shown by how it deals with wolves and elk." ||||| A video showing a rare confrontation between a pack of wolves and a heard of bison has been released by Poland’s forest service. 
 
 Shot by a fixed camera in the snow-covered Bialowieza forest, which straddles the Polish-Belarusian border, the night-time footage first shows startled bison fleeing as wolves break from the cover of the trees to launch an attack. 
 
 Then, perhaps remembering they are Europe’s largest land animal, the bison stand their ground before mounting a slow charge that sends the wolves scurrying back into the safety of the forest. 
 
 Weighing up to 2,200lb, an adult European bison has no natural predator so it is probable the wolves were hoping to isolate and kill a calf. A couple of calves appear in the video, protected a by a phalanx of adults. 
 
 Both bison and wolves have enjoyed a renaissance in Europe in recent decades after years of suffering at the hands of hunters. 
 
 Bison were hunted to the edge to extinction in Europe in the early 20th Century with the last wild bison shot in Poland in 1921, leaving only 50 in zoos scattered across the continent. 
 
 Since the end of the Second World War successful conservation programmes, especially in Poland, have led to bison numbers growing to over 4,600 worldwide. 
 
 They have also been slowly re-introduced to the wild, with Poland now boasting 1,212 free-ranging animals. 
 
 Anti-hunting laws have led to a surge in wolf numbers across Europe and wolves returning to countries, such as Germany, where they once eradicated. 
 
 Estimates of wolf numbers in Poland now range from 800-900. ||||| The bison, an animal once hunted to the brink of extinction in America, is set to become the first national mammal of the US, putting it on a par with the bald eagle as a symbol of the nation. 
 
 
 
 Congress has passed legislation, the National Bison Legacy Act, which names the hoofed beast as a “historical symbol of the United States” and establishes it as the nation’s landmark mammal. 
 
 Bison to return to Montana after 140 years in the Canadian wilderness Read more 
 
 Once the bipartisan move passes the Senate and receives Barack Obama’s sign-off, the bison will join the bald eagle, the national emblem since 1782, as America’s symbolic animal. America’s flora is represented by the oak, the national tree, and the rose, the national floral emblem. 
 
 The designation is a “milestone” in the effort to “prevent the bison from going extinct and to recognize the bison’s ecological, cultural, historical and economic importance to the United States”, said Cristian Samper, president of the Wildlife Conservation Society. 
 
 “The bison will serve as a great national symbol for the United States as it is as strong as the oak, fearless as the bald eagle and inspiring as a rose,” Samper added. 
 
 The honor doesn’t confer any new protections for the bison but represents a startling turnaround in the fortunes of the animal, also known more informally as the buffalo. The species was virtually wiped out in the 19th century as settlers moved west across America, slaughtering bison as they went. 
 
 The US army had a policy to kill off bison to harm the Native American tribes that relied upon them, as well as to make way for farmland and for food. Although the animals can run at speeds of 35mph and are surprisingly agile, they were easy targets for hunters. 
 
 Tourists paid to slaughter the animals and bison killing contests were popular – one person from Kansas managed to shoot 120 bison in just 40 minutes. As many as 30 million bison once roamed as far east as New York, but by the dawn of the 20th century, little more than 1,000 remained in remote pockets of habitat. 
 
 A conservation effort pulled the bison back from the brink, led by the newly established Yellowstone national park, which protected an initial herd of just two dozen animals, growing it to around 5,000 today. There are around 30,000 wild bison left in areas of America’s west, with a further 400,000 raised as commercial livestock across all 50 states. 
 
 “The buffalo has had a special place in the lives of tribal people since time immemorial and played important roles in our culture, religion and lifestyle,” said Jim Stone, executive director of the Inter Tribal Buffalo Council. 
 
 “Now buffalo have become a part of the fabric of tribal life once again, created the foundation for an economic movement based on healthy food choices and provided conservation groups opportunities to expand the habitat for the species.” 
 
 Bison have distinctive thick brown fur, long beards and horns. They also have a distinctive hump, which comprises powerful muscles that allow bison to move snow out of its way by using its head as a sort of snowplow. The animals, which can weigh up to 2,000lbs, are migratory and once performed a key role in ecosystems by tearing up vegetation to allow new plants to grow. 
 
 The imposing animals prefer eating grasses to humans but can prove risky to careless observers. Last summer, five people were injured by bison in Yellowstone. Three of the injuries occurred when people got close to bison in order to take selfies with the animal, only to be tossed in the air or jabbed by its horns. 
 
 Four of the people were hospitalized but none died. The National Parks Service, which prohibits visitors from getting within 75ft of bison, has warned that bison have little patience for unscheduled photoshoots with people who attempt to pose with the beasts.
– Conservationists are expressing outrage after an official in Germany ordered hunters to shoot the first wild bison seen in the country in more than two centuries. Calling the killing a criminal offense, the World Wildlife Fund says it will file charges against the official who gave the order, the Local reports. “After more than 250 years a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it," says Chris Heinrich, a WWF board member. The bison was seen by the river Oder near the eastern town of Lebus on Wednesday. Thinking the beast was a threat to public safety, a local official sent a pair of hunters to take care of it. It was unclear if any of them knew the European bison is classed as a "vulnerable" species and on Germany’s list of "strongly protected animals." The victim was likely a bull that had wandered across the border from Poland from its home in a national park. While they may be the continent's largest land mammals, weighing up to 2,200 pounds, the bison are not considered dangerous. If they were, says the local environmental minister, then "half of Poland, where the animal is a national symbol, would have to be declared a danger zone." Hunted to near extinction in Europe in the early 20th century, the bison are making a comeback thanks to conservationists, with more than 1,200 now roaming around Poland, per the Telegraph, which published a video showing bison fleeing, then standing up to, a pack of wolves. (The US bison is the country's first national mammal.)