24 November 2005, Zagreb

Final presentation of achievements of the LIFE project "Conservation and Management of Wolves in Croatia"

We have reached the end of the last year of the LIFE project implementation. This is the moment to look back on the achievements; what the situation was like when we started actively working on conservation and management of wolves and what it is today..

The final presentation of project achievements was held on Thursday, 24 November 2005. In the introductory part the attendants were addressed by Mr. Oscar Benedict, the first secretary of the EC delegation to Zagreb, Mr. Davorin Marković, the manager of the State Institute for Nature Protection and Ms. Ljiljana Pinter, the dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zagreb. All of them expressed their great satisfaction with activities and efforts put into the project so as to preserve the wolf and nature in general. Mr. Benedict emphasized his hope that this successful project would continue with the support of the Republic of Croatia.

This was followed by individual presentations of project activities and achievements by the basic project objectives - institutional strengthening, monitoring of wolf population and management activities, damage reduction, education and information and intensification of participation of interest groups in decision-making - held by Ms. Ana Štrbenac, Ms. Sonja Desnica, Ms. Jasna Jeremić and Mr. Dragan Šarić of the State Institute for Nature Protection, Mr. Josip Kusak of the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zagreb and Ms. Aleksandra Majić-Skrbinšek.

Ms. Sanja Pilić, the author of the picture book "A Story of Grga the Wolf-cub" published within the framework of the project, briefly described her co-operation with the project  staff and the creation of the story itself. At the end of the presentation she signed autographs on the picture book copies.

Mr. Šandor Horvath, the external project associate and the author of 2 documentaries on the wolf entitled "The Banished Master of the House" and "The Wolf and Tomorrow", gave a short review of co-operation during the project and its effects before showing the films themselves.

Ms. Ana Štrbenac, the head of the project, highlighted particularly that the project had succeeded in establishing the wolf conservation system in Croatia based on co-operation of competent authorities and all interest groups. Owing to project activities the attitude towards the wolf has changed. This is best demonstrated by cases when people reported on having found the wolves wounded, wishing to save them - the case of the female named Eva and the male wolf named Mane. The project contributed considerably to mitigation of animosities between humans and wolves, which is of key importance for the survival of this animal in Croatia.

The final part of the project results presentation that followed after the documentaries was filled with tumultuous emotions stirred by the achievements, with the applause, joy and acclamation for the future activities and wolf conservation actions.

Namely, regardless of the fact that the project officially ends on 1 December 2005, wolf conservation activities are going to continue. Determination of the number of large carnivores by monitoring the footprints in the snow and the establishment of an educational and information centre for large carnivores in Mrkopalj are only some of the activities that support this .