The European bison is a living treasure for Russia but hunting and the destruction of forests killed all the wild herds leaving only a few surviving animals in captivity.
Breeding farms like the Priokso-Terrasny Reserve south of Moscow, offer families a chance to enjoy the ancient species -- whose ancestors roamed alongside the woolly mammoth.
But with so few left their genetic pool has been weakened through inbreeding and are at risk of disease.
Al Jazeera's Robin Forestier-Walker reports on the Priokso-Terrasny Reserve, Russia.