The state-owned Zhenda game farm extends in the Eastern Rhodopes, in the region of the town of Kardzhali – one of the most stunning and scenic places in that part of Bulgaria. Alongside the large herds of mouflon, there are red deer here, as well as European fallow deer, roe and boar, not to mention rabbits, wolves, jackals, beech martens, European polecats, badgers, weasels, otters and even bears in the higher reaches of the mountain.

But without doubt, the most magnificent of all inhabitants in these lands is the mouflon. More than 300 of these beautiful animals live on the vast grounds of the Zhenda game farm. It is the only place in the country where this species is reared. Mouflons are open for hunting and shooting under certain conditions, says engineer Lyubomir Jisov, deputy director of the farm in an interview with BNR-Kardzhali.

“Mouflons, and more particularly those specimens with unfavourable genetic markers – albinos, or animals with non-standard horns, for example horns growing inward – can be hunted. There are certain criteria that have to be met. Female mouflon with some kind of disease can also be shot. This may sound cruel to an unbiased observer but that is the way we make a selection of the population,” says engineer Jisov, and adds that last year there were hunters coming to Zhenda from Turkey, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, the UK, Germany.

Mouflons were once one of the most widespread species roaming the Bulgarian lands. But as a result of illegal hunting the species disappeared, and only began to be restored in the late 1970s. That marked the beginning of the Zhenda game hunting farm. 36 mouflons were imported from Czechoslovakia in 1979 and released on its territory. Not all of them survived the adaptation during the first year, nevertheless 12 mouflon babies were born in the spring. The second time mouflons were imported was in 1986 with the aim of refreshing the blood so as to avoid inbreeding, says engineer Jisov. Through the years the number of mouflons increased, as did the territory they inhabit. Today, Zhenda covers a vast area of 21,500 hectares.

“In Europe the islands of Corsica and Sardinia are thought to be the places where the mouflon comes from,” says Lyubomir Jisov. “There they live in a natural environment but they have fewer enemies there. Whereas here, in our region they have natural enemies like wolves, foxes, jackals, some birds of prey which hunt smaller mouflons etc. And if the herd has to be defended, the only way is for the male mouflons, with their horns and their skulls to push the enemy away. But that rarely happens because the mouflon is an animal that is vulnerable to predator attacks.”

Zhenda is divided up into free territory inhabited by the red deer, roe deer, boar, and the so-called intensive game farming bases – enclosures where the mouflons roam:

“We’ve had a few mouflons escaping from the enclosures a few times, but they can hardly survive on the outside, they try to get back inside. Because even though there is food available in the wild they are herd animals and when 3 or 4 mouflons get out it is difficult to form a herd to protect them. This is the reason why at the moment no attempts have been made to breed them and release them outside the enclosures,” says Lyubomir Jisov adds.

More:

• Photohunting brown bears in Bulgaria
• The hunting palace in Krichim is a truly royal destination
• A game farm in the Rhodopes to be transformed into a sheep’s milk and wool farm

Compiled by Veneta Nikolova, based on the interview by Stanislava Georgieva, BNR-Kardzhali

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: BNR-Kardzhali, Zhenda game farm