Ministry Says Bison Killed to Discredit Park Management

The European bison killed by an apparent overdose of amphetamines and caffeine may have been the victim of a hit to discredit the nature reserve’s management, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said Thursday. Shponti, a 16-year-old breeding bull, was found dead in a pen at the Prioksko-Terrasny nature reserve on Jan. 6. “The motive was to create an additional way to discredit the current leadership of the nature reserve,” Vsevolod Stepanitsky, deputy director of the Department for State Policy and Regulation in Conservation said in an e-mail. An independent commission appointed …

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