When The Reserve hosts France 3

The bi-monthly program “Des racines et des ailes” presented by Carole Gaessler goes on a discovery of places, personalities or historical periods that have made and still make the richness of the French cultural heritage and last September 25, in “Trésors de la Riviera”, we opened the door of our animal reserve.

This time of the year is the time of birth for the European bison, and we met our first “baby” bison. A beautiful little male who is doing great. Did you know that he is up 4 hours after his birth, that he is ready to run after 8 hours and although fragile, he is perfectly autonomous?

Patrice Longour evokes the beginning of this fabulous adventure 15 years ago and now it is 800 species that live here in total freedom. However, it is les chevaux de Przewals, a true relic of history, and how it has survived the ages that remains an enigma and a mystery for Patrice Longour.

It is also the reintroduction of these large wild mammals that bring back to life these landscapes of the High Country of Nice, unequalled for thousands of years. An equally important aspect of this reintroduction is that the once arid soil has become fertile. The awareness of the importance of biodiversity is the credo not only of Patrice but also of his son Lukas who finds this cohabitation wonderful and unique. The next generation is assured!

On October 6th, in “Les Chroniques Méditerranéennes”, Nathalie Simon transports her viewers to a timeless place in our “wild” Reserve!

Together, we went to capture young bison born in 2017 to go abroad in other animal reserves in Europe.

It is with great care that Patrice Longour locates them and puts them to sleep. In order to mark them with a visible international identification with the T for Thorenc and the F for France and the order number. That day it is the 42nd one that we will export to Belarus. This practice is essential for the scientists who will thus be able to identify them easily in a social group and to follow its evolution.

Then Patrice takes Nathalie Simon in front of a landscape which was as it was 10 000 years ago! Bisons, wild horses that we find on the paintings of the Cro Magnon men in the caves of Niaux, Lascaux … They are not alone with the deer, the ibex … In preview, the announcement of the next wild animal that will integrate the reserve: the Elk!

The message or even the cry from the heart that Patrice Longour wants to convey is that it is important that our society must understand that we are part of a “whole”, that we are the most powerful element of this “whole” and that this “whole” we can make it disappear. What we have to be aware of is that it will take over even otherwise and we will not be there anymore!

We must know this wonderful nature, respect it and keep our childish eyes!