Parasitological monitoring of European bison in the Bieszczady Mountains

Abstract

The aim of our study was to determine the level of parasitic infections in European bison (Bison bonasus) in the Bieszczady Mountains on the basis of coprological methods: flotation, decantation and the Baermann technique. 429 faecal samples were collected from European bison in the following Forest Districts: Baligród, Komańcza, Lutowiska, Stuposiany, Lesko and Cisna. Examination of faeces revealed the presence of eggs of gastrointestinal nematodes from the Trichostrongylidae family, as well as Nematodirus sp., Aonchotheca sp. and Trichuris sp., larvae of lung nematodes Dictyocaulus viviparus, eggs of tapeworms Moniezia sp. and oocysts of 7 species of coccidia, belonging to the genus Eimeria (E. bovis, E. zuernii, E. pellita, E. bukidnonensis, E. subspherica, E. ellipsoidalis and E. brasiliensis). The population of European bison in the Bieszczady Mountains turned out to be the only free-living herd not infected with the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica. The level of parasitic infections, observed during present study, was low and did not indicate clinical signs of parasitic disease, thus it did not require deworming.