Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve to feature enclosures with bathing areas and an animal kitchen

January 24, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Enclosures with bathing areas and a kitchen for animals and birds will appear in the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve by the end of this year. The reserve continues to implement the project "Expansion of enclosures for keeping wild animals in the village of Domzheritsy," as reported to BELTA correspondent by Viktor Moskalev, deputy director of the specially protected natural area. The new enclosures will occupy an area of 12 hectares, while the area of the old ones did not exceed 1 hectare. They will house 15 species of animals and birds inhabiting the reserve, from wild boars and foxes to bears and lynxes. Designers have ensured that the animals will have plenty of space in the new enclosures. A small pond and a bathing area will be built for swans and wild boars (as it turns out, wild pigs are big fans of water procedures). Given that the number of animals in the demonstration areas will increase, the project includes the construction of a kitchen where food for the inhabitants of the enclosures will be prepared. The territory of the enclosures, from which the ecological trail, familiar to many tourists who have visited the reserve, begins, will be modernly landscaped. As Viktor Moskalev noted, the project has undergone an environmental assessment, and the work is being carried out with minimal interference in nature, as it concerns a specially protected territory. The construction of enclosures and service premises, including the kitchen, is planned to be completed by the end of this year. The total cost of the project is over Br5 billion. The Berezinsky State Reserve has been granted the status of Ramsar wetlands, a biosphere reserve, a biogenetic reserve, an important bird area, and a monitoring point of the national environmental monitoring system (NEMS). The rich flora of the reserve includes about 800 species of higher vascular plants, 216 species of mosses, 317 species of algae, 463 species of fungi, and 238 species of lichens. 56 species of mammals have been recorded here, including the European bison, brown bear, lynx, badger, and otter. All European predators are represented. The avifauna of the reserve includes 230 species of birds. The animal world is complemented by 34 species of fish, 11 species of amphibians, 5 species of reptiles, and over 4,000 species of invertebrates, of which more than 3,000 are insects. The Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve is one of the few protected natural areas in Central and Eastern Europe with such exceptionally high ecological value. -0-