European Wolf Newsletter Number 3 (April 1996)

News
from various countries

Projects
from various countries

Austria
First Wolf Since 1973

Croatia
First Damage Compensation Paid: Problems in Sight

Estonia
Wolves are an Issue

Europe
Trailmaster Infrared Trail Monitoring System

France
Wolf Monitoring in Maritime Alps

Germany
Wolf Management Plan in Brandenburg Published

Japan
Large Carnivore Symposium in November

Russia
Poaching of Ungulates Major Threat to Wolves

Russian Karelia
Wolf Population Decline

Poland
Wolf Ecology in Bialowieza Primeval Forest

Slovakia
Wolf Ecology and Livestock Guarding Dogs in the Slovakian Carpathians

Slovenia
Wolf exhibition

Romania
Ecology and Human Interactions in the Carpathians

winter is over and the hunting season, the main threat for most wolves in Europe, as well. Many wolves were shot in the past months, but new ones will be born this spring and hopefully outnumber the losses. For this edition I received several articles from Russia and it was interesting to hear how things are going in the east in these turbulent times. Wolves seem to have increased in many areas after the breakdown of the communist regime because the governmental control systems with bounties are not in place anymore. But now it seems that due to a dramatic decrease of ungulates, wolf populations are becoming endangered. It sounds as though poachers have almost completely wiped out ungulate populations in some areas. These reports do not only exist from Russia but also from Slovakia and to some degree from Romania. As a result of decreasing food resources, wolves might turn to easy prey and livestock damage could increase. This again would increase the efforts of persecuting wolves. It becomes obvious how far we are still from a coexistence. And that in wolf conservation, the human dimension factor is the limiting one.

WWF International has now started a large carnivore initiative. There is a good chance to connect and coordinate the ongoing projects and efforts. I think that only such a policy can bring the much needed breakthrough in wolf conservation in Europe. It is a good sign to see that almost everybody is interested in joining this initiative. Together we can achieve more.

Thanks again to Europe Conservation France for the financial and logistic support, to Barbara Willis for correcting our English, and to Andreas Zedrosser for helping with organizing.

The main predator on livestock over the centuries in Europe has been the wolf. Long ago shepherds developed a special type of dogs to protect their flocks. Teams of shepherds and livestock guarding dogs accompanied their flocks of sheep and goats into the mountains, until this tradition was disrupted by the disappearance of wolves. The behavior of livestock guarding dogs is distinct from all other breeds of dogs and they should not be mistaken for herding dogs which keep livestock together under the command of the shepherd. Livestock guarding dogs live in the midst of the flock and do not disrupt sheep or goats. Livestock guarding dogs need to be 'trained' between the ages of 8 and 14 weeks by being raised together with livestock. They slowly form social bonds and become a member of the herd. Well-bred dogs are selected by the following criteria: They must be a) trustworthy with livestock, b) attentive, and c) protective whenever a predator shows up. Fights between livestock guarding dogs and wolves are rare. Instead, the wolves and dogs appear to treat each other as if they were the same species. Usually wolves will discontinue their hunting sequence when they are discovered by dogs and engage in social greeting, posing, massive barking, and sometimes aggressiveness. Livestock guarding dogs can be an important part of a functional livestock protection strategy, which also includes night-pastures, electric fences, shepherds on duty etc. The use of livestock guarding dogs should be revived on a pan-European level. Our society is interested in hearing from other European countries on this topic to build a European network.

(Guenther Bloch, Society for the Protection of Wolves, Von-Goltsteinstr. 1, 53902 Bad Muenstereifel, Germany)

In northern Austria, a 46 kg male wolf was killed on January 30th, 1996. A hunter from Upper Austria supposedly mistook the wolf in the night for a big fox and shot it. Local authorities confiscated the body and destroyed it immediately. Only the brain was kept for a rabies check, which was negative. Since wolves are fully protected in Austria, the animal rights organization lodged a complaint against the hunter and the Hunters Association announced that it would take measures against the responsible person. The wolf most likely had not escaped from captivity and probably migrated from the Czech Republic. The last appearance of a wild wolf in Austria was in 1973.

(Andreas Zedrosser, WWF Austria, Ottakringer Str. 114-116, 1160 Wien, Austria)

Since the enactment of wolf protection in May 1995, Croatia needs to manage the damage caused to livestock. So far, at least four damage compensation requests have been submitted and one was accepted. The State Directorate for Nature Protection paid 1,500 DEM for a killed calf. The Croatian Wolf Group is now intensively creating a manual that describes the compensation requirements, including: how to determine a wolf kill, how to report and document the damage, as well as detailing the minimum requirements for protecting the livestock. Training for a group of field "experts" was held in January 1996. Additional source of compensation funds has to be identified soon in order to ensure that the state will not remove the wolf from the protected status. Hunters are attempting to ask for the compensation of "damage" on game. A tough education campaign is needed to explain that wild ungulates are the wolves natural food and that wolves will not exterminate them.

(Duro Huber, Biology Department, Veterinary Faculty, Heinzelova 55, HR-10000 Zagreb)

Wolves are expected to become an increasingly bigger problem in Estonia according to local hunters and wildlife managers. The focus is on three aspects: the occurence of wolf-dog hybrids, the increase in livestock depredation, and the decrease in wild ungulates. After a litter of hybrids was discovered in spring of 1995, there are questions about whether the increase in wolf numbers would lead to an increase in hybrids. Although there are no statistics about livestock depredation because there is no compensation system, an increase of attempts by wolves to penetrate animal farms at night in the last few years was recorded. Wolf scat analysis has shown that more than 90% of the prey consisted of ungulates and rodents. Hunters and wildlife managers believe that an increased wolf population (estimated to be about 750 wolves in 1995) is the reason of decreasing ungulate populations. The Estonian government has decided to support wolf-hunters by providing the necessary means and supplies amounting to the equivalent of US $22,000. Hunter clubs have now organized wolf-hunting squads and more of them will emerge in the future.

Trailmaster is a trail monitoring system chosen for its accuracy and dependability which was successfully used to monitor wolves and Florida panthers in North America, tigers in India and forest elephants in West Africa. An event is recorded each time an animal breaks the invisible infrared light beam. The beam itself ist unvisible for animals. The dates and time to the minute of each event are recorded and stored in the Trailmaster each time the beam is broken. Up to 1,000 events can be stored and easily recalled using a single button in the front of the receiver and then transferred to a desktop computer. Trailmaster can be connected to a weather-proof, fully automatic 35 mm auto-focus camera. Another possibility is to connect the Trailmaster to a video camera inside a weatherproof housing. The Trailmaster then becomes a tool to detect the specific animal being patterned. It is now available for the first time in Europe.

Monitoring in the French Maritime Alps has been conducted since 1992-93 by the scientific service of Mercantour National Park. Activities focus on the collection of signs of wolf presence (tracks, scats, carcasses of prey) and scat analysis to determine food composition. There are at least 12 wolves in two different packs. The main pack had a minimum of 2, 6, 8 and 7 wolves in 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96, respectively. In spring 1995, reproduction occured within the two packs. Two wolves were found dead: a two-year-old female was road killed in April and a 3 to 4 year old male was poached in September. The area occupied by wolves is at least 470 km". The diet of the wolves is mainly composed of moufflon and chamois. However, domestic ungulates were frequently found in the scats collected during the grazing period. In 1995, wolves were considered to be responsible for 95 attacks which resulted in the death of 408 sheep and goats. Despite a rapid increase in damage compensation payments and the proposition of various protection methods (shepherd huts, electric fences, guarding dogs) there is still a strong opposition from shepherds and agricultural associations and also from some hunters who want the wolves to be eradicated again. Regular meetings are being organized in order to find solutions linked with the presence of this predator. The work undertaken for the few wolves in the Maritime Alps will affect the future of the species elsewhere in the Alps and the rest of France.

(B. Lequette, M.-L. Poulle, T. Dahier and T. Houard, Parc national du Mercantour, 23 rue d’Italie, B.P. 316, 06006 Nice Cedex, France)

One and a half years after the first European wolf management plan was completed, the Ministry of Environment in Brandenburg, eastern Germany, has finally published the plan. The reason for the long delay were problems with other species like cormorans, ravens and geese which were causing damage to fisheries, lambs and crops. These species dominated the public discussion and the ministry therefore did not want to open another battleground by publishing the wolf management plan. Due to the increasing number of wolves in western Poland and the increase of wolf observations in eastern Germany throughout the past 15 years, a management plan was initiated to have the concepts ready before the first packs settled. The plan itself, worked out by the Munich Wildlife Society, includes precise measurements for livestock prevention, damage compensation and control of wolves. It does not request for zones with different management objectives, but for a flexible management which reacts to the specific damage situations. The organization of the implementation of the plan is new in German history: it is planned to be given into the hands of an NGO. This should ensure a higher flexibility and the possibility to have professional staff with special training in wolf management. Public awareness work is another big task of the plan. A printed copy is now available at the Munich Wildlife Society in German language (DEM 30,-). The plan will be translated into English. The next task is to look for funding possibilities for the implementation of the plan.

(Christoph Promberger and Doris Hofer, Munich Wildlife Society, Linderhof 2, 82488 Ettal, Germany)

The 2nd International Symposium on the "Coexistence of Large Carnivores with Man" is being held in Omiya, Japan, from November 19-23, 1996. It shall provide the latest information on the status of medium and large carnivores from each continent on the earth. It updates the information given at the first symposium held in Poland in October 1994. Besides the annual meeting of the IUCN Wolf Specialist Group, other specialist groups of the IUCN will hold meetings as well. For information contact the Ecosystem Conservation Society Japan, #305 Ando Bldg. 2-11-9 Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171, Japan, Fax +81-3-5951-2974.

The project completed its first intensive winter season with a lot of data. Four wolves from three different packs were trapped and radio-collared in the fall 1995: a male and female pup, a male yearling and a four to five-year-old male. Together with the wolf which was collared in March 1995, we were able to monitor four different packs. A total of 369 locations were recorded. In early winter, pack sizes were 4, 7-10, 6-8 and 5 wolves, respectively. Hunting decreased the pack size throughout the winter: the largest pack lost three adult wolves, probably both alpha animals amongst them. The forth adult wolf in the group survived only because the hunter saw the radio-collar around his neck. From the pack of four, the collared male pup was shot in December and the other one, a female, left the pack in early January and moved to the neighboring pack. In total, we recovered 15 wolf carcasses (6 pups, 9 yearlings and adults) from hunters and found remains of another, unidentificable wolf carcass. By early winter, pup survival was low: two of the monitored packs had only two pups, the other ones three at the most. All the pups that we observed, trapped and recovered as carcasses, were in excellent condition and we believe that there are causes other than a lack of food for the low survival rate.

(Christoph Promberger, Munich Wildlife Society, Ovidiu Ionescu, Ion Munteanu, Doru Stancu - all I.C.A.S. Bucuresti, Sos. Stefanesti 128, RO-Bucharest and Annette Mertens, University of Rome)

Until the early 1990s, wolves preyed upon the high densities of wild ungulates. Since then, wasting of natural resources has extremely increased. Populations of moose, boar, and deer have declined by many times due to poaching. Predators used to feed on the carcasses and injured animals that were left over after such 'hunting' by poachers. Now, even these resources are almost exhausted and the wolf has turned to feeding at animal refuse burial grounds and to farms. This will result in an increase of cattle losses and consequently in increasing efforts to exterminate the wolf. Unfortunately, monitoring of wolf populations and research of wolf ecology in Russia have been greatly reduced and many questions about the trends in wolf populations remain vague.

(Dimitrii I. Bibikov, Institute of Ecological and Evolutionary Problems, Leninskii prospect 33, Moscow, 117071)

In the first half of this century, wolves were practically extinct in the remote taiga territories of northern Karelia. In the late 1950s, wolves began to recover and until the mid 1970s, wolves inhabited all parts of northwestern Russia again. It is believed that this was due to stable food resources during this time. About 650 individuals were estimated to live in northern Karelia by then. In the early 1980s, moose populations, main prey species for wolves, began to decrease due to several reasons: overhunting/poaching, predation and the changing of the habitat were thought to be the main causes. Due to this, the wolf population also began to decrease. In the late 1980s, growing persecution by humans accelerated the decline of wolves and their number was estimated to be between 430 and 450 individuals. In Karelia, wolf hunting is opened all year round and the bounty for a wolf is a free permission to hunt a moose in the following year. During the last two years, 172 and 173 wolves were killed, respectively.

(P.I. Danilov, Karelian Research Center RAN, Pushkinskay 11, Petrozavodsk, Russia; M.J. Syroezhin, Petrozavodsk University, Leniena 33, Petrozavodsk, Russia)

Europe Conservation France has developed a volunteer program in Romania in order to support the research project Ovidiu Ionescu Icas Bucharest carried out by Christoph Promberger (Munich Wildlife Society). Participants are sent in the field to help the scientists with different activities. One of these modern adventurers, back from Romania, reported to our NGO about the telemetry work, the long but exciting hours spent on the wolf track, the observation of the pack behaviour and the satisfaction of working efficiently for the protection of this species. It was a great opportunity for him to find out about the research reality and to get knowing wolves better through an unforgettable human and ecologist experience. We hope that many others will join this enthusiastic young man because we know that volunteers contribution is essential for the success of the project.

The project is in its final phase because it is only funded until June 1996. Additional funding opportunities are still vague. By February 1996, four wolves have been radio-collared: two individuals each in two different packs. The method of live capturing wolves with nets is very effective. Using this method, we even selectively recaptured a wolf with a malfunctioning collar and replaced it. Territories of the two monitored packs are 250 and 200 km" respectively and overlapped to a small extent. Differences in the activity between these two packs are interesting: the pack which occupies the Bialowieza National Park as the part of its territory is often active inside the park boundaries during daytime. The pack inhabitating the commercial part of the forest with many human-caused disturbances is active only at night. Current work focuses on estimating predation rates of wolves on ungulates. We are also investigating the differences in the pattern of territory utilization by wolves on different age or social status belonging to the same pack.

(H. Okarma and W. Jedrzejewski, Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-17-230 Bialowieza)

Slovakia
Wolf Ecology and Livestock Guarding Dogs in the Slovakian Carpathians

In the Lower Tatra National Park (2,000 km" including a bufferzone) we captured and radio-collared a 7-year-old female (42 kg) on September 14th, 1995, breeding female of the pack. On September 19th, 1995, a female lynx stepped in one of the traps and was consequently radio-collared as well. The lynx was shot on December 28th, 1995. From tracks during late fall 1995, we estimated six adults in the pack. Three of them were shot in December 1995. Preying mainly on red deer during winter 1995, the three remaining wolves are facing a new threat: the rapid decline in the numbers of roe deer, red deer and wild boar. Having peaked in 1990-91, ungulate numbers are being quickly reduced as a result of intensive hunting and poaching. Wolves can be hunted by an extremely high - and still growing - number of hunters from September 15th to March 1st without limits. Consequently, the breeding season of wolves is disturbed through hunting. There is no information about the number of breeding pairs in Slovakia as an indicator for wolf population viability. Based on scan analysis and direct sightings, wolves prey as well on livestock. This is why the protection of sheep and goats has been considered to be top-priority. We bought two seven-week-old livestock guarding dog pups (Tatra Mountain dogs) from southern Poland and transported them to a sheep camp in the Lower Tatras. We provided the pups, their regular vaccinations and the dog food to the shepherds free of charge. After socialization during winter (lambing season), the dogs will go in Spring 1996 for the first time into the mountains to protect their flock against wolves and lynx.

(Guenther Bloch, Society for the Protection of Wolves, Von-Goltstein-Str. 1, 53902 Bad Muenstereifel, Slavomir Findo, and NAPANT, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia)

Since 1990, wolves are completely protected in Slovenia. This represents the northernmost tip of the Dinaric population and could be the source for the recolonization of wolves into the Eastern Alps. It is estimated that about 25 animals live in the Southwest of the country in the areas of Kocevsko and Notranjsko along the border to Croatia. Wolf numbers have increased again in the recent years. The major threat is the development of forested areas. In order to achieve public acceptance for wolf conservation, an exhibition "wolves are no danger, they are endangered" was organized from the administration of the 'Medved' - hunting district and the Society for the establishment of Kocevje Nature Park. In conjunction with the exhibition, a scientific anthology about wolves (editors: M. Adamic, J. Cernac, D. Huber, W. Schroeder) was published and a lecture about "Wolves and Humans" (lecturer: C. Promberger, Munich Wildlife Society) presented. The goal of the exhibition was public relations for the wolf, as well as promoting the idea of the Kocevje Nature Park with the wolf as its flagship. We believe that protected areas like our park are essential for the survival of wolves, bears and lynx in Slovenia. Increasing numbers of wolves have also caused higher damage on livestock, especially sheep. To better understand wolf ecology and the importance of corridors in our country, a research project would be extremely helpful.

Volk ne ogroza! Volk je ogrozen! (Wolves aren’t dangerous! They are endangered! In Slovenian with English summaries, produced by Medved Hunting District, Reska 35, Kocevje, and the Society for Kocevje Nature Park. 86pp. Editor: M. Adamic. A scientific anthology of articles about wolves in different parts of Slovenia, other parts of Europe and about the relationship of wolves and humans in different parts of the world.

Wolf oder Hund? (Wolf or dog? In German, produced by the hunting associations Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). A leaflet especially for east German hunters, which gives a brief overview why wolf occurence increased in the Polish-German border area, about wolves in Europe and about the problems to identify the presence of wolves in the area. A clear and positive confession of the hunting associations towards the wolf and a guide for hunters to decrease the chances to accidentially shoot a wolf as a stray dog. Misleading only the statement, that wolf and dog footprints could easily be distinguished. A positive signal from east German hunters.

Page published by Oliver Matla in 1997
Contents taken from the European Wolf Newsletter, edited by the European Wolf Networkand published with assistance of Europe Conservation France.

Table of contents
	Preface (by Christoph Promberger)
	Livestock Guarding Dogs (by Guenther Bloch)
	Books, Brochures, Leaflets Latest European Wolf Resources