Prince Charles to Visit Endangered European Bison Herd
On Tuesday, March 9th 2010, Jolanta Gadek, speaker for Poland’s Podlasie province, revealed that Prince Charles and his wife will be visiting a rare European bison herd in their distinctive natural habitat. A unique herd of some 800 European bison subsisted in the Bialowieza forest, a wooded area that extends as part of Poland’s boundary with Belarus. The European prehistoric forest is said to be rare and is a protected national park. The European Bison herd is categorized as endangered.
The bison is a relative of the North American Buffalo and has existed in the forest since before the First World War. However as the years passed, the European bison was all but wiped out by German troops and local poachers. The existing herd found recently was bred from seven present animals.
The royal couple will also stop at a nearby mosque in the eastern Polish community of Kruszyniany on the Polish-Belarussian boundary occupied by descendents of Tatars who, at the closing stages of the 17th century, were given land by Poland’s King Jan III Sobieski as compensation for their service in the military. The country’s tiny Tatar community is also comprised of the predominantly Roman Catholic country’s native Muslim inhabitants.
According to a statement released by the British Embassy in Warsaw, the visit will center on mutual aid in the area of defense and matters concerning ethnic and religious minorities, and environment protection.
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales was born on the 14th of November 1948. He is the eldest son of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Queen Elizabeth II. Since 1958, his major designation has been HRH The Prince of Wales. Prince Charles is known as The Duke of Cornwall in Cornwall and as The Duke of Rothesay in Cornwall.