Today, rewilding is inspiring an ever-growing number of people to support and practice nature recovery. With the theme #RewildingHope, this year’s World Rewilding Day focuses on rewilding’s beneficial impact and uplifting vision. The Rewilding Ukraine team together with local partners has organized several events for World Rewilding Day 2023.

Not only iconic large animal species are important for nature. Lesser known species, such as the European beaver, also play an important role in the rewilding of natural systems. The fauna and flora of the Danube Delta and adjacent areas create complex, balanced and interdependent ecosystems that support wildlife and people. In these systems, each species has its important place and affects many other species. Let’s talk about beavers: why they are interesting and why they are useful for nature and local communities.

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.

Today, many countries celebrate World Rivers Day. Rivers are very important to people because they provide us with many important things: food, clean water, building materials, transportation corridors, opportunities for recreation and tourism, and much more. But not only people gravitate to rivers and water bodies. Rivers and especially wetlands are home, kitchen or bedroom for many plants and animals of our planet. More than 40% of species are associated with these natural systems in one way or another. Let’s figure out what the term “biodiversity” means, which you can hear quite often from ecologists, and how we are related to it.

The restoration of wildlife populations can play a game-changing role stabilising our climate. Rewilding is the best way to enable such a recovery.

Today, on International Vulture Awareness Day, ornithologist Mykhailo Nesterenko (Executive Director of Rewilding Ukraine) will talk about these mysterious birds: why they are important in nature, whether we have them in our region, why they decline, and much more.

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.

Dear friends, partners, and supporters, with the year approaching to an end we would like to look back and reflect on some of the major achievements we have made together this year from restoring the swathes of delta landscape, return of the wildlife, and to support of local economies and awareness-raising.

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.