engleski

Temporary wolf management plan for Croatia

After alarmingly low wolf population indices in early 1990s the campaign to protect the species in Croatia succeeded in May 1995 since when it is protected. Legally it meant two things, a) that any killing or disturbance is prohibited (the fine of nearly USD 6000 was established), and b) that the proven damage done by wolves must be compensated by the state. First never worked, as the killings even increased compared to the years before protection: 24 bodies retrieved to the author's lab, and at least twice as many actually killed after protection. None ever paid the fine. Secondly, the state paid over USD 200,000 USD for damage claims that showed the dramatic trend of their numbers: 9 in 1995, 176 in 1996, 516 in 1997 and 669 until the end of November 1998. The need wolf management plan for Croatia became urgent. Newly acquired data showed that the wolf is continually present in the area of 17270 km2 (zone A) which was divided into the zone A1 where the wild prey is predominant wolf food (81% according to the scat analyses) and zone A2 where wolves feed predominantly on livestock (86%). Area of occasional wolf presence is 6840 km2, and the area presently without wolves is 29212 km2. In spite of high mortality, there are indications that from the estimated 50 wolves in 1990s the wolf population might have exceeded 100 individuals. Indications of this positive trend have not been scientifically explained but the possible reasons are the success in wolf reproduction during the years of the Croatian homeland war due the abundance of abandoned livestock and due to international wolf migrations. However, the wolf population of this size should still be considered threatened and legally protected, but the noted trend permits more flexible management. Due to the still insufficient knowledge on Croatian wolf population, high illegal killing and increasing trend of wolf damages, proposed was the temporal wolf management plan for the period of 1 January 1999 through 31 December 2000. A list of long term and short term measurers is given. As a short term measure for the zone A1 the possibility of wolf number reduction is considered in the case of high losses of trophy wildlife and the scientifically proven stable local wolf population. Within the zone A2, an area of 3177 km2 was defined where 75% (N=491) of wolf depredations have been claimed. For this area the possibility of permitting of regional time limited wolf killing in the active and passive livestock protection was anticipated. In the same period the wolf damage compensations would not be paid. The list of actions to be carried out in this and other wolf areas in Croatia during the next two years was given. Part of the strategy is to prepare conditions, until the year 2001, for paying subsidies for livestock breeding in wolf range instead of damage compensations.

wolf; management; Croatia

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