This documentary was made three years ago. The Oostvaardersplassen are a relatively new reserve created between the cities of Almere and Lelystad in the Dutch province of Flevoland. In 1968, when southern Flevoland was reclaimed, the area was originally intended as to be an industrial area. However, because there was no need for new sites for years, an extraordinary type of landscape developed with room for rare species such as the Bearded Reedling To enhance the strengthening of the soil it the area was seeded with the aid of airoplanes. Reed seeds together with the seed of the Willow quickly developed. To prevent the area from being overgrown with willow and reed, around twenty Heck cattle were released in the area in 1983 and two years later twenty Konik horses. Subsequently, in 1992, 57 red deer from Scotland were introduced to the area. The absence of natural predators has let the population of large herbivores to grow to more than 4,000 animals today, in an area of 1,500 hectares. During the winter of 2004/2005, this resulted to very large numbers of animals dying of starvation. The policy of the Forestry Commission (SBB) is not to feed or cull the animals. This policy has been criticised by numerous organisations and at the request of the government an international committee has examined the issue. This "International Committee on Management or of large herbivores in the Oostvaardersplassen "(ICMO-1) presented its recommendations. Part of the recommendation was: reactive policy towards suffering/starving animals (90% of the starving animals should be culled while they can still stand), decrease in the numbers of Heck cattle, promoting the growth of shrubby vegetation and the creation of a nearby "Dutch Wood" for foraging. Also, the developments should be evaluated five years after the recommendations were issued. In 2010, a long and cold winter, adversely impacted the condition of the animals that lived in the area. Significant numbers had to be culled which lead to a widespread public outrage. As a result, Staatsbosbeheer (Forestry Commission) was commissioned by the government to feed the hungry animals. A second committee (ICMO-2) was set up (a year earlier as planned) to investigate the current management of the animals. After this period they found out that SBB (Staats Bos Beheer) only implemented a few recommendations from ICMO-1. Some recommendations were ignored or badly introduced. ICMO-2 came with a few new recommendations. These recommendations could be split-up in three sections: short-term recommendations, mid-term recommendations and long-term recommendations. In the first evaluation one year after the ICMO-2 report, the Management Advisory Committee Oostvaardersplassen ascertained in 2012 that SBB was heading in the right direction for regarding the short-term recommendations, but raised their concerns about the low success rate (90% culling norm) of these animals during the winter of 2011/2012. Moreover, they concluded SBB were far behind in implementing the long-term recommendations. Some new improvements were deemed necessary. The failure to introduce the Hollandse Hout (Dutch Wood) and the Oostvaarderswissel (Wildlife crossing) will lead, in the opinion of the Bac (the Management Advisory Committee Oostvaardersplassen), to a shortage of food and cover/shelter. Moreover the development of the biodiversity, as a result of the i impact of the big herbivores on the reserve, is a huge concern. SBB posts on their website, monthly reports of the development during the winter months. Till January 2013 a total of 218 animals had died. This is more as than the three years before in during the same period. In short, still thousands of animals are suffering unnecessarily of hunger and hundreds of animals are dying of starvation.

• published: 07 Mar 2013
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