PRESENTATION OF MANAGEMENT / ADMINISTRATION PLANS FOR LARGE CARNIVORES IN CROATIA

14 February 2005

 

Management plans for wolves and lynx in Croatia and the Administration Plan for Brown Bears in Croatia were presented at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zagreb on Monday, 14 February 2005 with the start at 10 a.m. All plans were also officially adopted by competent ministries.
By formulation of these management/administration plans the Republic of Croatia has fullfiled a part of its obligations under the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) and by their active implementation the country is expected to approach the European Union standards, said Mrs. Marina Mlakar, the Deputy Minister of Culture.

Prof. Luigi Boitani from the University of Rome, who is also the author of the European Action Plan for Wolves, stressed that plans formulated represented an important event both for Europe and Croatia.
  

Mr. Josip Bartolčić, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, pointed to the fact that Croatia was one of a few countries of Europe inhabited by three large carnivores - wolves, lynx and bears. For that reasons plans governing their co-existence with man are of utmost relevance to their conservation and protection and to economic development possibilities of the respective areas.

The State Institute Manager, Mr. Davorin Marković, urged the general public "to be aware of Croatia's being a small island in Europe still endowed with everything that other countries had 100 and more years ago, which makes it our historical task to leave this to future generations".
Prof. Alistair Bath from the Canadian University emphasized that the Wolf Management Plan, apart from dealing with the ecological aspect, focused special attention on the social dimension of wolf management, on the co-existence of the wolf and man and especially on the benefits that the population might receive from wolves, for example in the development of eco-tourism.
The Plan for Wolf Management in Croatia was prepared within the framework of the Life III Project of the Conservation and Management of Wolves in Croatia, implemented with the financial assistance of the European Commission. In its preparation representatives of competent ministries, non-governmental organizations, scientists, cattle breeders, etc. were actively involved.

With the support of the competent ministry they participated in workshops, thus showing that communication is possible and indispensably necessary for a good quality management of the wolf population in Croatia. A very positive contribution was made by representatives of scientific and specialized institutions of Slovenia. The Plan was officially adopted by the Decision of the Minister of Culture of 7 December 2004. The presentation of the Plan for the Wolf Management in Croatia was held by Ana Štrebenac, Aleksandra Majić-Skrbinšek, Jasna Jeremić-Martinko, Sonja Desnica, Alistair Bath, Đuro Huber and Josip Kusak.