From - BBC World News By- Isabelle Gerretsen Editted by - Amal Udawatta Getty Images The Oostvaardersplassen is one of Europe's most controversial and influential rewilding projects (Credit: Getty Images) In 2018, thousands of dead animals, emaciated from starvation, lay strewn across a famous Dutch rewilding project. Was it animal cruelty or just nature taking its course? In February 2018, train commuters travelling between the Dutch cities of Almere and Amsterdam were horrified to see animal carcasses strewn across the landscape . They were passing by the Oostvaardersplassen, one of Europe's most infamous rewilding projects , known for its diverse birdlife and wild cows, deer and horses . For many years, beginning in the 1980s, the ethos at the Oostvaardersplassen was not to intervene and to allow nature to take its own course. The pioneering approach helped shape the conversation around rewilding and influenced nature resto...