Although Romania is home to Europe’s largest wolf population, this
\nspecies is endangered because of habitat fragmentation, poaching and improper
\nmanagement. The lack of a national management plan and of concrete information
\non the structure and dynamics of the wolf population may lead to improper
\nmanagement, likely to impact this species in the long run. In order to maintain
\na viable and healthy population of wolves in the
\nCarpathian Mountains in the long run, the Environment Protection Agency in
\nVrancea, in collaboration with the Harghita and Covasna branches and a local
\nNGO, have been running a European project called ‘WolfLife’. The project is being
\nimplemented over a period of 4 years,
\nuntil 2018, in the central and southern part of the Eastern Carpathians,
\ncovering six counties. Although wolves are protected at domestic and
\ninternational level under a series of laws and conventions, such as the Berne
\nConvention, the Cites Convention, the European Directive and the Hunting Law,
\nwolves continue to be a threatened species. The WolfLife project however might
\nchange that to some extent. Within a
\nyear since the launch of the WolfLife project, a number of important data has
\nbeen collected about the life of wolves in the Carpathian Mountains. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Silviu
\nChiriac with the Vrancea Environmental Protection Agency, a project manager and
\nexpert in the protection of big carnivores, tells us more about the project: We have signaled,
\nfirst of all, the presence of stray dogs in the habitats populated by wolves,
\nas being a serious threat, because of diseases
\nand competition over food. Also, the important damages that wolves cause
\nto farms can lead to many conflicts between farmers and wolves to the detriment
\nof the latter. Then there is the negative image that this species has among the
\nrural and urban population, which is also likely to escalate conflicts in the
\nfuture. Given all these, we have decided to take concrete action in the
\ncounties of Valcea, Bacau, Mures, Covasna, Harghita and Neamt, in order to
\nprotect the wolves.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An inventory of the
\nwolf packs and an analysis of their habits, size and mortality rate have been
\nsome of the actions taken under this project.
\nSilviu Chiriac: As regards the size of the territories and the
\npacks, we found out that the packs in the Carpathians are not as big as the
\nones in the northern part of the American continent. In Romania, an average
\npack is made up of 3 to 5 wolves in wintertime, while in the north of the
\nAmerican continent a pack counts up to 24 members. The size of the pack is
\ndirectly linked with the food available, because in Romania the prey is not as
\nabundant as managers of the hunting areas say. Wolves feed on stray dogs, which
\naccount for at least 20% of their diet. There could be two reasons for that: we
\neither have too many stray dogs in the forest, which is, as I have already said
\nbefore, a threat, or the other species that wolves feed on, such as hart, deer
\nand wild boar, are scarce.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The data collected
\nas part of the WolfLife project indicates that strays dogs and sheep dogs left
\nunsupervised in forests in Romania have a significant impact on wild life. To
\nsolve these problems, sheep owners are advised to give up mixed breed dogs and
\nuse instead traditional shepherd dogs. Silviu Chiriac explains: In March, the environment ministry in Romania will become, to my knowledge,
\nthe first environment body in Europe to have its own kennel for breeding
\ntraditional Carpathian shepherd dogs. This breed has been patented in Romania
\nand has been very efficient in sheep herding. The Carpathian shepherd dog is a
\nvery docile type of dog that does not attack people and does not stray from the
\nsheepfold to attack wild animals. By breeding this dog, we try to help
\nshepherds. We intend to create a network of shepherd dog owners, each of whom
\nwill receive from us a male and a female dog, free of charge. The shepherds
\nwill be obliged by contract to support the dogs and donate the puppies to other
\nshepherds or dog owners. The network will thus expand.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The WolfLife project
\nalso aims to achieve better cohabitation between the wolves and the locals,
\nsays Silviu Chiriac: We have established a demonstrative area in six counties to show shepherds how
\nto reduce the damage to sheepfold caused by wolves, bears and lynxes. We have
\ngiven electric fences to six farmers from each of the six counties, as well as
\nsound and odour repellent systems to keep out the wolves. The farmers can use
\nthese systems free of charge and starting next summer we will organise bus
\ntrips for shepherds from other areas to see how these systems work and learn
\nhow to keep out predators.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wolves play an
\nimportant role in maintaining wild life viability and the perpetuation of
\nnatural ecosystems of environmental, scientific and tourist importance. To end,
\nlet us just note that the Romanian Carpathians are home to over 2,700 wolves. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although Romania is home to Europe’s largest wolf population, this species is endangered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44315],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-152842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-planet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n