Preparations for Snow Tracking of Large Carnivore Populations

The representatives of hunters' associations and protected areas met in Gospić on 18 October and in Crni Lug (Risnjak National park) on 25 October to discuss the organization of the action of snow tracking the large carnivore populations. At two well attended meetings the participants were made familiar with the methodology of work and the operational implementation of the action was agreed. It was agreed that at the first snow of the winter all habitats (hunting grounds and protected areas) inhabited by large carnivores would be jointly visited and data on every trace recorded - data on animal species, movement direction and the smallest number of animals in a group. Data would be plotted on maps and the maps forwarded to the State Institute for Nature Protection for further processing and analysis. The data electronically processed centrally would be interpreted at a joint workshop and the size of population of each species in the study area estimated.

The action of snow tracking large carnivore populations, as one of the methods to study the population status for the purpose of establishing a national system for monitoring wolf and lynx populations, has been provided for by the wolf and the lynx management plans for Croatia. The management plans mentioned were formulated under participation of all stakeholder groups that recognized the lack of cooperation and mutual trust among various stakeholder groups as one of the key problems in wolf protection. A vivid interest in the action of snow tracking large carnivore populations, which is expected to include hunters from a large number of hunting grounds and supervisors from all protected areas in the target region (NP Risnjak, NP Plitvice Lakes, NP Northern Velebit, NP Paklenica and PP Velebit), all of whom received necessary maps prepared by the State Institute for Nature Protection, indicates clearly the willingness of the people to pass the barriers of distrust and to make concerted efforts towards a common goal.