At the end of February, another crucial step was taken to deepen the collaboration between Rewilding Ukraine and the Borodino territorial community in preserving and ecologically restoring the Budzhak steppes, with the Tarutino steppe landscape reserve at its core. Two training seminars on rewilding for local residents were conducted in the Borodino community.

The Rewilding Ukraine team are engaged in long-term efforts to create a wilder and healthier Tarutino Steppe. The ongoing reintroduction of European hamsters will help to restore local food webs, enhance biodiversity, and boost nature-based tourism.

On World Environment Day, a milestone event took place in Ukraine giving hope for the preservation and further ecological restoration of the Tarutino Steppe, the second largest steppe in Europe after the Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve. It is a home to a significant number of steppe animals and plants, many of which are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

Last week, a group of female fallow deer arrived at the protected Tarutino steppe and was temporarily released into an acclimatization enclosure. They joined the males that settled here two years ago to lay the foundation for a stable population of the species in the region.

A family of three European hamsters was released into the wild in the protected Tarutino steppe in the south of Odesa oblast as part of the cooperation of the Kyiv Zoo, Rewilding Ukraine, and the Tarutino steppe nature and ethnographic park. Hamsters, along with other herbivores reintroduced to the region through rewilding efforts, should restore food chains and enrich the steppe fauna.

The project “Assessing carbon sequestration and storage by dry grassland ecosystems” was launched, implemented by Rewilding Ukraine together with a team of scientists. In the summer, the first project research took place in the Tarutino steppe and in the Biosphere Reserve “Askania-Nova”.

Scientists conducted research in the Tarutino Steppe using acoustic monitoring devices. This method made it possible to detect rare bats and rodents in the steppe, as well as many bird species.

The first wild baby kulan born in Tarutino steppe! The foal was born in a group of kulans that were released into the wild the last fall. To support the species reintroduction in the area, another group of kulans was released this spring by the team of Rewilding Ukraine after the acclimatization period.

The arrival of 20 more kulan on the Tarutino Steppe is part of a long-term reintroduction programme. The animals will fill an important ecological niche and enhance biodiversity.

A group of steppe marmots, translocated to the Tarutino Steppe in 2020, are acclimatising well to their new home. Their release into the wild, which is part of a long-term reintroduction programme, is helping to create a more ecologically complex steppe environment.