PROJECT SLOWOLF - LIFE program Hrvatskalifeprogramhrvatska.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/... ·...

PROJECT SLOWOLFSummary of Results

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244 SloWolf

LAYMAN’S REPORT

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Contents

Introduction............................................................................................... 4

Surveillance of the wolf population conservation status .......................................... 4

Working with volunteers ............................................................................. 5

Managing the threats - Wolf prey ..................................................................... 5

Managing the threats – Damages to livestock ....................................................... 6

Educating the educators ............................................................................. 6

Dissemination and awareness raising ................................................................. 6

Public acceptance of wolves ........................................................................ 8

Working with media ................................................................................... 8

Stakeholder involvement and improvement of wolf management ............................... 8

After-Life .................................................................................................. 9

Conclusion ................................................................................................ 9

Original and extended project area with different signs of wolf presence used to choose the area.

4

Introduction

The goal of the project was the long-term conservation of the wolves, their main prey and habitats in Slovenia, and improvement of their coexistence with humans. Wolves are natural predators of wild ungulates living in Slovenian forests. They live in family groups (packs) and require large territories to survive. In Slovenia many important population-specific life history details, for example the average number of animals a pack, territory sizes and the number of packs living in the country, were unknown before the project imple-mentation. The attitudes of people towards wolves vary greatly as well. Certain interest groups, for example hunters and livestock breeders, may come into conflict with wolves because they prey on game species and domestic sheep. At the same time wolves are increasingly perceived as symbols of wild and preserved nature. These conflicting interests, coupled with low population sizes and demanding monitoring of conservation status, make wolf conservation a very complex issue. Continued ex-istence of this species in Slovenia, and its co-existence with humans, depends on a number of intertwined factors. We studied these factors within the project, directly addressed many of the most pressing issues, produced a solid knowledge base, networked the most important interest groups, helped improve the lacking legislature, and by doing that provided a firm foundation for successful conservation and management of this charismatic large carnivore species in the future.

The survival of wolves in Slovenia depends on a number of factors. Within the SloWolf project we studied these factors and used the acquired knowl-edge to improve conservation status and management of this charismatic species. We fitted seven wolves (four males and three females) with GPS telemetry collars to study their spatial requirements and behaviour. These data were combined with annual snow tracking in winter and howling sur-veys in summer. In each howling survey we recorded five to seven litters in the project area. We involved local hunters and other volunteers in in-tensive snow tracking surveys during winter to obtain information on how wolves use space and how big their packs are, and to collect non-invasive samples for genetic analysis (scats, urine and saliva). The genetic samples were collected year-round, in annual cycles based on wolf biology. Analysis of these samples resulted in a first robust, precise and objective estimate of the wolf population size in Slovenia. Over the three years of inten-sive population size monitoring, it remained stable and practically did not change at the yearly scale even in the face of high documented wolf mor-tality. Around 46 wolves (between 42 and 50) in 8 to 11 wolf packs lived in

Wolf snow tracking

Slovenia in each year of the project. High population turnover (births, mortalities, immigrations, emigrations) caused these numbers to fluctuate considerably within each year (on average between 33 and 46 individu-als). Four packs had considerable parts of their territories in Croatia, and they can’t be considered completely “Slovenian” for management purposes. After correcting for these border packs (assigning 50% of animals in them to each respective country) it was estimated that the highest yearly number of wolves in Slovenia for the management purposes was around 39 individuals (between 34 and 43).

Surveillance of the wolf population conservation status

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The goal of the project was to set-up a science-based, robust population monitoring system, which suc-ceeded with flying colours. This monitoring system has already been adopted by the responsible ministry and is being routinely used after the project.

Found wolf cups from the project radio collared wolf

_ Working with volunteers

To facilitate a better acceptance of wolves and raise conservation aware-ness we invited hunters and other volunteers to join us in yearly howling and snow-tracking surveys and to help collecting noninvasive genetic samples. Inclusion of volunteers also enabled us to cover a large project area with high intensity fieldwork, a task that would be exceedingly expensive if at-tempted with professional personnel. In the duration of the project, we included altogether 2429 individual volunteer participations in wolf surveil-lance activities: 984 people interested in wolf research and conservation were registered in our online volunteer database and regularly invited to educational seminars and to participate in field surveys; 891 volunteers at-tended educational seminars, 453 took part in winter snow tracking and 245 in summer wolf howling surveys. Besides that, we included 108 hunting clubs with over 5000 members in year-round collection of noninvasive genetic samples. Summer howling surveys were done for three consecutive years, and with so many volunteers we were able to monitor an area of up to 3384 km2 in single day. In three consecutive winters we organized 65 snow-track-

Hunters and other volunteers partici-pated in project snow tracking

ing sessions, and checked more than 2230 km of forest roads for wolf tracks. We followed 171 km of wolf tracks and collected 185 genetic samples. The huge interest and the sheer number of involved volunteers exceeded all our expectations.

Managing the threats - Wolf prey

Wolves in Slovenia mainly feed on natural prey – red deer, roe deer, wild boar and other smaller mammals. These wildlife species are also managed as game species. During the project a set of recommenda-tions have been prepared for the management of large game species, which take into account the presence of wolves – their needs and impacts on the prey species. These recommendations were already implemented in the annual wildlife management plans for 2013.

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Managing the threats – Damages to livestock

Damages caused by wolves present one of the biggest challenges for wolf conservation in Slovenia and elsewhere in Europe and the world. Within the best practice demonstration action we donated high electric fences and sheep guarding dogs to eight sheep farmers with flocks of 30-800 sheep and documented wolf attacks in the past. Already in the first two years these protection measures were in use, the compensa-tions for wolf attacks paid to those farmers were nearly 200,000€ less than if damages remained at the previous levels, which comes close to covering the entire Slovenian co-funding contribution to the project. The key to success was the correct and consistent use of the protective measures.

As a support to this activity, two brochures about the use of electric fences and livestock guarding dogs for damage pre-vention were produced and distributed to farmers, agricul-tural advisors and hunters in the project area. Five targeted workshops for farmers were carried out. During these local workshops participants were informed about the proper care and training of the livestock guarding dogs and correct use of portable electric fences for night enclosures for sheep.

Setting up donated high electric fences. Donated LGD with his flock

_ Educating the educators

Damages to the livestock are one of the most important causes of human-wolf conflict and preventing dam-ages is very important for improving coexistence between wolves and agriculture. However over the years, the effective methods to prevent livestock depredations have been forgotten. Agricultural Advisory Service employees work closely with farmers and give advice to farmers about best practice in agriculture. Within the project we’ve organised two training seminars for the agricultural advisors. Both seminars consisted of theoretical (lectures) and practical (field trip) parts and provided in-depth information on effective ways of preventing wolf damages.

Dissemination and awareness raising

The aim was to run a targeted public awareness and education campaign based on knowledge-gap analysis provided by the attitude and knowledge survey. The campaign started with development of the project visual identity and its promotion. SloWolf logo together with LIFE and Natura 2000 logos was used on all promotional, educational and information materials and also on durable goods purchased and used in the project. Campaign started as a promotion of the project goals and activities, and of volunteer participa-

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tion in the population monitoring activities. Project T-shirts were produced for promotion purposes and distributed to volunteers (two different motifs for wolf howling surveys and winter snow tracking), farmers and project staff.

A comprehensive brochure “Wolves in Slovenia” was prepared in and widely distributed at dif-ferent project events to general public, hunters, schools (children, youth, teachers, students), farmers, project volunteers, libraries and other interested parties.

Four issues of the annual project bulletin “Volčja sled” (“Wolf Track”) containing short articles about project activities and upcoming events were produced. In each issue several of the proj-ect team members expressed their views about the wolf and how they feel working for the proj-ect. In the last issue we used the opportunity to

Volčja sled 1

Volkovi živijo v tropih(na strani 3 in 4)

lovci in varstvo volkov pri nas(na strani 9)

Volk v očeh javnosti(na strani 10)

VOLČJA SLED 42 0 1 3

Spremljanje odnosa javnosti do volka, str. 3

Sprejem in revizija akcijskega načrta, str. 5

Na sledi volkulji Jasni, str. 7

Mednarodna konferenca: Varstvo volkov v kulturni krajini,

str. 10

Annual project bulletin “Wolf Track”

thank all the people involved in the project activities for their work and the important role they played in successful implementation of the project. The bulletin was distributed to the libraries in the wolf presence area and to the key interest groups (hunters, farmers, decision-makers, foresters etc.) within project area.

We designed and printed a project poster (two different motifs) containing facts about wolves and the main project messages. Posters were distributed to school teachers and children at the seminar for schools, and to hunters and general public from the wolf presence area during the documentary movie showings and public presentations of the project results. We additionally designed and printed two larger (100 cm x 200 cm) posters with summarized contents of the brochure. These posters were used at various project events.

Educational film about wolves and main project activities was produced in the final year of the project. The film covers key in-formation on wolf biology and management complexities asso-ciated with this species. It was produced in 500 copies on DVD, and we distributed ~400 copies to project partners, libraries, media (all main public and private TV media companies) and interested individuals. The movie was shown at six public film evenings open for the general public, and as a part of lectures for hunters.

We organized a seminar about wolves for biology teachers. Teachers were actively engaged in learning about the proposed classroom activities, and they had the opportunity to discuss the didactic value of the materials in a school setting. At the end of the seminar the teachers received the educational tool kit con-taining a teacher’s handbook with worksheets for students and assessment sheets, a PowerPoint presentation about wolves, the educational film about wolves and the posters about wolves and the project. They also received all these materials in the electronic form on USB memory sticks. In addition, we also or-ganized workshops for high school students. Around 400 high

Biology students during preparation for workshops about large carnivores

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school students participated and evaluated prepared educational materials. For that purpose, we prepared questionnaires where we assessed the students’ knowl-edge and attitudes toward large carnivores of Slove-nia. In January 2014 the teaching materials were also presented at an educational conference organized by the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana.

A notice board about wolves in Slovenia and about the project was installed at the educational trail in Mašun (a popular tourist destina-tion in the wolf range in Dinaric Mountains).

_ Public acceptance of wolves

Biology and population monitoring is not everything – many other factors need to be taken into account for successful conservation of wolves. Their survival is threatened by negative public attitudes, primarily as a consequence of damages that wolves cause to livestock and other domestic animals. Public attitudes are also affected by prejudices about wolves and fear of wolves, which originate in a poor understanding of the species’ biology. Our study of public attitudes showed that the vast majority of inhabitants in the wolf areas support wolf conservation and wish for a better coexistence. At the same time, many are still afraid of wolves. The truth is that wolves are not dangerous to humans and will in most cases avoid us at any cost. A rabid wolf would represent a deviation from normal behaviour, but rabies in wolves has not yet been documented in Slovenia.

_ Working with media

Lack of public interest and negative public attitudes toward wolves can present a potential threat for their conservation. Informed public on the other hand functions as a competent stakeholder that can equally participate in the decision-making process. During the project we directed considerable effort towards transparent communication with different media. We prepared 23 press releases, 10 short statements, or-ganized two press conferences and participated in two others. Each press release and conference resulted in a high number of posts and articles in the electronic and printed media. Within the its four year duration the project accumulated 361 internet media posts, 140 articles in printed media, 22 radio and 32 TV clips published in international, national and local media, as well as several television and radio interviews with representatives of the project team. This drew considerable positive media attention to wolves and wolf conservation issues, and we managed to provide the interested public with correct information about the wolf-caused damages and wolf population size, the two issues which were often the sources of conflict. Since knowledge affects fear and attitudes, we believe that well informed public is already forming more positive attitudes toward wolves, and has a better understanding of the wolf role in the ecosystem and the complex nature of wolf management. Most importantly, the public is starting to recognize the importance of wolf-human coexistence for wolf conservation in the long run.

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Stakeholder involvement and improvement of wolf management

One of the important achievements of the project was the preparation of the first Action Plan for the Con-servation of Wolves in Slovenia. The Action Plan was prepared by 57 participants from 21 governmental and non-governmental organizations with very different backgrounds and agendas. The Slovenian government officially accepted the action plan in February 2013. At the end of the project we revised the plan, and included considerable knowledge and experiences acquired during the implementation of the project. The Action Plan will ensure that the activities initiated in the project will continue after its conclusion, thus improving wolf population management and its coexistence with people on a long-term basis.

Conclusion

The comprehensive, interdisciplinary, four-year LIFE+ project on wolves in Slovenia provided not only new knowledge and experiences, but also practical solutions and improvements that are already having considerable effect on wolf conserva-tion and management. Today we know much more about the wolf, its habitat and its relation to other animal species and humans than ever before. And importantly, we are for the first time solving issues that have been at the core of wolf-human coexistence problems for decades. The project brought to-gether a large number of Slovenian and foreign wolf experts

After-LifeAfter LIFE conservation plan is a way of ensuring that the results of the project will continue to be used for wolf conservation after the end of the project, and that the activities started during the project will become a regular practice in the national wolf management.

Project steering group, based on the results of the project, and in cooperation with the authorities, has prepared the After LIFE Wolf Population Conservation Plan.

Actions which will be carried out or continued after the end of the project:

- Implementation of surveillance of wolf population conservation status as set up in the project, including the use of the wolf monitoring portal (portal.volkovi.si).

- Periodic training of inspectors for recognition and evaluation of large carnivore damages to agriculture.

- Individual counselling of farmers about the wolf damage prevention.

- Involvement of volunteers in the wolf population monitoring activities.

- Maintaining the project web page www.volkovi.si as the main wolf conservation portal in the country.

- Maintaining the project Facebook page (Projekt SloWolf).

- Continuous periodic revisions of wolf population action plan.

and managers, as well as other key participants – hunters, livestock breeders, volunteers and journalists – creating a support network that will be essential for future of wolf conservation in our landscapes. We are proud to have participated as partners in the project, and sure that its legacy will continue to improve the outlook for wolves and nature conservation in our country for many years to come.

Responsible for content: Aleksandra Majić

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Project title: Conservation and surveillance of conservation status of wolf (Canis lupus) population in Slovenia

Acronym: SloWolf

Duration: 01/01/2010 – 31/12/2014

Coordinating beneficiary: University of Ljubljana

Associated beneficiaries: Slovenian Forest Service and Dinaricum Society

Project manager:

Aleksandra Majić, University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Biology Dpt., Večna pot 111, SI1000 Lju-bljana, Slovenia, [email protected]

Project budget:

European Commission – 70.92% (721,850 €)

Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment – 23.58% (240,000 €)

Project beneficiaries – 5.5% (55,923 €)

www.volkovi.si

LIFE

European Commission

DG ENV.D.1

BU-9 02/1

B-1049 Brussels

Fax: +32 2 296 95 56

Fax 2 :+32 2 292 17 87

Website: www.europa.eu.int/comm/life

Graphic design: Andrea Bardi

Printing: Trajanus d.o.o.

This publication was published in 2013 with support from the European Union’s LIFE Fund and the Minis-try of Agriculture and Environment in the framework of LIFE-Nature Project Conservation and surveil-lance of conservation status of wolf (Canis lupus) population in Slovenia (LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244)

AFTER-LIFE CONSERVATION PLAN

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244

Responsible for content: Aleksandra Majić

Ljubljana, December 2013

2 | LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244

THE LIFE

PROGRAMME

The LIFE programme is the EU’s

funding instrument for the

environment. The general objective of

LIFE is to contribute to the

implementation, updating and

development of EU environmental

policy and legislation by co-financing

pilot or demonstration projects with

European added value.

Website: http://ec.europa.eu/life

http://ec.europa.eu/life

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244 | 3

CONTENTS

The LIFE programme ............................................................................................................................................... 2

Abbrevations ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

About SloWolf project ............................................................................................................................................. 5

SWOT analysis ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

The After-LIFE Conservation Plan ............................................................................................................................ 9

Damages .............................................................................................................................................................. 9

Legislation ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Monitoring and research of wolf population .................................................................................................... 11

Interventions into the wolf population ............................................................................................................. 12

Transboundary cooperation .............................................................................................................................. 13

Institutional cooperation .................................................................................................................................. 13

Game species management .............................................................................................................................. 14

Public participation in wolf management ......................................................................................................... 14

Information and disseminaton .......................................................................................................................... 15

Decreasing of illegal killings of wolves .............................................................................................................. 16

About the After-LIFE Conservation Plan ............................................................................................................... 17


ABBREVATIONS

BF – Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana

CAFS – Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia

IRSNC – Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation

LIFE+WOLFALPS - LIFE12 NAT/IT/000807

MAE – Ministry of Agriculture and Environment

NGOs – non-governmental organizations

RPD – Rural Development Programme

SEA – Slovenian Environment Agency

SFS – Slovenia Forest Service


ABOUT SLOWOLF PROJECT

The goal of the project was the long-term conservation of the wolves, their main prey and habitats in Slovenia,

and improvement of their coexistence with humans. Wolves are natural predators of wild ungulates living in

Slovenian forests. They live in family groups (packs) and require large territories to survive. In Slovenia many

important population-specific life history details, for example the average number of animals a pack, territory

sizes and the number of packs living in the country, were unknown before the project implementation. The

attitudes of people towards wolves vary greatly as well. Certain interest groups, for example hunters and

livestock breeders, may come into conflict with wolves because they prey on game species and domestic

sheep. At the same time wolves are increasingly perceived as symbols of wild and preserved nature. These

conflicting interests, coupled with low population sizes and demanding monitoring of conservation status,

make wolf conservation a very complex issue.

Continued existence of this species in Slovenia, and its co-existence with humans, depends on a number of

intertwined factors. We studied these factors within the project, directly addressed many of the most pressing

issues, produced a solid knowledge base, networked the most important interest groups, helped improve the

lacking legislature, and by doing that provided a firm foundation for successful conservation and management

of this charismatic large carnivore species in the future.

Project title:

Conservation and surveillance of conservation status of wolf (Canis lupus) population in Slovenia

Acronym:

SloWolf

Duration:

01/01/2010 – 31/12/2014

Coordinating beneficiary:

University of Ljubljana

Associated beneficiaries:

Slovenian Forest Service and Dinaricum Society

Project manager:

Aleksandra Majić, University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Biology Dpt., Večna pot 111, SI1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, [email protected]

Project budget:

European Commission – 70.92% (721,850 €)

Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment – 23.58% (240,000 €)

Project beneficiaries – 5.5% (55,923 €)

Project website:

www.volkovi.si

http://ec.europa.eu/index_sl.htm

http://www.mko.gov.si/


SWOT ANALYSIS

We’ve used a structured planning method called SWOT analysis to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats at the end of the project. The analysis allows the identification of internal and

external factors that are favourable or unfavourable to achieve a certain objective or a goal.

The overall goal of the SloWolf project was the long-term conservation of the wolf population, its main prey

and habitats in Slovenia, and improvement of their coexistence with humans. A series of specific objectives and

tasks were designed in order to ensure the contribution of the project to the abovementioned overall goal.

As a result of the project structure and its objectives, the SWOT analysis was first carried out separately for

each of the concrete conservation and awareness raising actions in the project. After that a meta-analysis was

performed and an overarching SWOT matrix for the project produced (below).


Helpful Harmful

Inte

rnal

ori

gin

Strengths:

Established and proposed national surveillance system for conservation status of the wolf population includes governmental institutions concerned with nature protection, wildlife management and agriculture, as well as academic institutions and non-governmental organizations – volunteers.

Surveillance includes several different methodological approaches that provided a precise and realistic picture of the wolf population conservation status, needed for effective management.

Taking into account wolf dietary needs when planning game hunting quotas increases hunter's interest in wolf conservation.

Considerably decreased probability of mistaking which animal caused damage.

Increased awareness and knowledge about damage prevention among farmers and those who can educate farmers.

Better cooperation and communication with the organizations from the agricultural sector.

Actual decrease in number of damage cases as a result of best-practice demonstration.

Better understanding of wolf conservation objectives among different groups.

Diversity of project internal and external partners enabled wider dissemination of the project outputs.

Easy access to frequently updated information through project website and Facebook pages.

Diverse use of communication tools.

Weaknesses:

Unsecure funding for the implementation of the wolf conservation action plan.

Excluding of a great part of the expert institutions data and recommendations on some wolf management actions and taking primarily political decisions by the government (competent minister).

Insufficient continuous data on wolves impact to the pray species.

Insufficient involvement of some key institutions in the project (Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation and Slovenian Hunters Association).

Limited access to objective information to some members of interest group when communicating through group leaders (presidents of hunting clubs, local livestock associations, etc.)


Exte

rnal

ori

gin

Opportunities:

Reporting the results of the yearly surveillance sessions during the project, largely increased awareness and knowledge about wolves and Slovenian wolf population status and subsequently increased interest for involvement into surveillance activities among different volunteer groups ( eg. Scouts, hikers, hunters, nature lovers...).

Participation of different stakeholder groups in decision – making results with a better acceptance of the decisions.

Better dialogue and understanding among different interest groups.

New channels for informing the farmers about the damage prevention.

Increased interest in damage prevention.

Change of domestic animals husbandry towards less conflicting species.

Transfer of knowledge among the farmers.

Forming of working lines of livestock – guarding dogs.

Newer technologies for improving the quality of electric fences.

Wolf is an attractive animal and it is relatively easy to increase interest of media and general public.

Willingness of the authorities to use and disseminate the project results.

Attractiveness of the interdisciplinary topic and published scientific papers could fasten the dissemination of the project studies and results among scientific circles in Europe and worldwide.

Promotion or visibility of the project could help ease the implementation of other large carnivore project activities.

Exchange of experience, knowledge and good practices among other large carnivore projects and experts in Europe and worldwide

Project promotion increases visibility and public awareness for other conservation topics.

Threats:

Lack of agreement among some of the interest groups about the wolf population conservation objectives and means to achieve the objectives.

Insufficient interest for what project was offering among the agricultural advisory service.

Insufficient individual counselling about the damage prevention.

Legislation that does not stimulate damage prevention.

Decrease in motivation to use (or properly care for) the donated prevention measures after the end of the project.

Potential habituation of wolves to the presence of electric fences in the pastures.

Lack of public interest and knowledge about the wolf topics – indifferent and uninformed public can be more open for manipulations

Negative attitudes of local media toward the project and wolves can reflect in negative reporting and refusal of publishing the project news/press releases

Lack of personnel and public awareness events to communicate wolf issues after the end of the project

Decline of media interest for conservation topics


THE AFTER-LIFE CONSERVATION PLAN

The After-LIFE conservation plan has been developed for the period of 5 years and based on two processes:

Project internal analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats briefly presented above,

and

Revised Wolf Conservation Action plan (Majić et al., 2013) which has been developed within the

project through a participative process with interested stakeholders.

General goal of the After-LIFE conservation plan is long-term conservation of wolves in Slovenia with minimal

conflicts with humans. Specific goals, objectives and proposed measures are presented below in chapters

organized by topics. The order of the topics reflects the importance of each topic for wolf conservation as

evaluated by the participants of workshops for development of Wolf Conservation Action Plan. First topic

presented (Damages) was the most important. For each of the proposed measures, responsible organizations,

sources of funding and costs were defined as well as timeframe for the implementation.

DAMAGES

Considerable damages that wolf causes in agriculture pose the biggest threat to its long-term survival in

Slovenia. At the moment the current legislation which deals with prevention and compensation of damages

are not efficient enough in motivating the farmers to prevent the damage from happening. Also there is no

possibility to control if the prevention measures have been implemented or not. On the other hand,

compensations paid for killed domestic animals are higher than the market value of the same animal.

Goal:

1. Improvement of livestock breeding practices in a way which ensures minimum possible number of

damage cases while wolf population is kept in a favourable conservation status.

Objectives:

1. Better damage prevention and at least 50% fewer damage cases, and a decrease in paid

compensations.

2. Compensation system that motivates farmers to actively protect their livestock against wolf attacks,

especially if the attacks are repeating at the same farm.

3. Ensured counselling and control of the implementation of damage prevention measures.

4. Guidelines for management of pastures at the wolf presence areas.

5. Harmonized nature conservation and agriculture policies.

6. Subsidizing implementation of the damage-prevention measures.

7. Efficient inspections of the damages and when needed, use of genetic methods to identify the species

that has caused the damage.

Measures:

Measure Responsible Funding Timeframe

1. Implementation of the damage compensation system as foreseen by the law

SFS and SEA State budget, approximately 300,000€

Continuous

10 | LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244

per year

2. Provide additional resources for implementation of the damage prevention measures

SEA and SFS State budget,

30,000€ per year

According to the farmers’ interest

3. Individual assessment of farms with damages and counselling about the solutions in connection with the Rural Development Programme

SFS, CAFS and external experts

RPD

20,000€ per year

As needed

4. Change of the legislation so that they are in harmony with current knowledge about the effectiveness of damage prevention measures and with conditions for farming in areas where wolves are present

MAE Regular tasks 2014

5. Harmonization of working agendas among the environmental and agricultural parts of the MAE

MAE Regular tasks Continuous

6. Regular education of damage inspectors SFS, SEA and external experts

State budget

2,500 € per seminar

At least once in 5 years

7. When needed, use of genetic methods to identify the species that has caused the damage (i.e. wolf vs. dog)

BF State budget

5,000 € per year

Continuously

8. Organize workshops for farmers in connection with the implementation of RPD

CAFS, SFS, sheep and goat farmers (NGOs)

State budget

1,200 € per workshop

As needed

9. Introduce measures within the agri-environment measures.

MAE RPD 2014

LEGISLATION

Wolf conservation can sometimes be in conflict with other human interests, especially when damages to

livestock occur. Wolf is, on the other hand, also a charismatic umbrella species which is endangered in Slovenia

and elsewhere in the world and actions need to be taken to protect and conserve it in their natural habitats.

Legislation has to take into account both views and ensure conservation of wolves with minimal conflicts.

Currently, the legislation does not allow such an approach, especially when it comes to ensuring flexibility and

individual approach to resolving damages to repeatedly happen in some pastures.

Goal:

1. Operational legislation which will ensure effective conservation of wolves with minimal conflicts of

wolves with humans.

Objectives:

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244 | 11

1. Assessment of legislation implementation with an emphasis in improving its practical

implementations.

2. Well prepared regulation which contributes to achieving of the management goals.

Measures:


1. Change Nature Conservation Act in section where obligations of farmers in damage prevention are listed; also change Rules on the appropriate manner of protecting property and the types of measures for preventing further damage to property

MAE Part of regular tasks 2014

2. Change articles 160 and 161 of Nature Conservation Act (increase fines)

MAE Part of regular tasks 2014

MONITORING AND RESEARCH OF WOLF POPULATION

Good monitoring of the population ensures unbiased support to the decision-makers. The main goal of

monitoring of the wolf population is collection of the information on population demographics, its spatial

distribution and structure. Demographic parameters are represented with several parameters, the most

important being population size and population fitness parameters (as defined in the Annex 1 of the action

plan (Majić et al., 2013)). Good monitoring requires a combination of different methodological approaches.

Goal:

1. Established continuous and systematic surveillance of the wolf population conservation status, as

basis for conservation and management.

2. Support to research in order to provide effective and current knowledge- based wolf population

management.

Objectives:

1. Known spatial distribution of the wolf population, population size, structure, fecundity and mortality

rates.

2. Known occurrence of hybrids with dogs, dynamics of the population size, its genetic diversity and

health status.

Measures:


1. Implementation of population monitoring as defined in Annex 1 of the Action Plan (Majić et al., 2013).

MAE with subcontractors (SFS and other expert organizations)

State budget

85,000 € per year

continuously

12 | LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244

2. Maintenance of the wolf population monitoring portal

SFS with external help

State budget

3,500 € per year

Continuously

3. Set up of population monitoring in the Alpine areas

Project LIFE+WOLFALPS

Project LIFE+WOLFALPS

48,000 €

2015

INTERVENTIONS INTO THE WOLF POPULATION

Interventions into the wolf population are acceptable only if they do not threaten the maintenance of the

favourable conservation status of the population. Among those interventions, culling represents the most

important one. Legal, strictly regulated and sustainable culling that is taking into account wolf biology is a

measure in dealing with conflicts caused in the society by wolf conservation. Culling can slow down the growth

of the population to a social acceptable level, it directly involves local inhabitants (hunters and other interested

groups), it raises the wolf value perceptions at the local level, facilitates shaping of a political will for wolf

conservation, increases social carrying capacity and decreases poaching. It will depend on the specific local

context weather and how these effects will occur.

Goals:

1. Better acceptance of wolves among some stakeholder groups.

2. If needed, implementation carried out in a way that vitality and viability of the population is not

affected.

3. Preserved fear of people and their property among wolves.

Objectives:

1. Elimination of illegal shooting of wolves.

2. At least partly ensured impact to damage reduction.

3. Implementation in a way that will not significantly harm social structure of wolves.

4. Better acceptance of wolves among local inhabitants.

5. Maintained inters of hunters for conservation of wolves in Slovenia.

Measures:


1. Planning of the interventions in accordance with nature conservation legislation.

SFS, IRSNC and MAE in cooperation with expert committee and working group and if needed other experts and representatives of interest groups

Part of regular tasks When needed

2. Culling possible from beginning of September to the end of January

MAE Part of regular tasks When needed

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244 | 13

3. If possible, implement culling at the pastures.

MAE Part of regular tasks When needed

TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION

Slovenian wolves are part of a bigger Dinaric population and management decisions in Slovenia have direct

impact to the wolf population in the neighbouring countries and vice versa. Therefore a transboundary

coordination and cooperation in wolf management is necessary. The most important is cooperation with

Croatia. Other important countries are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Austria.

Goals:

1. Harmonized transboundary wolf population management and cooperation in prey species

management with Croatia and later also with Italy, Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2. Transboundary cooperation and networking within current projects and joint proposals for future

projects.

Objectives:

1. Establishment of joint coordination group with Croatia and initial cooperation with Italy and

Austria.

2. Transboundary dialogue at all levels (expert and decision-maker).

3. Harmonized planning of interventions into the population, especially for transboundary wolf

packs.

4. Cooperation in projects.

Measures:


1. Establishment of joint coordination group with Croatia

MAE and Croatian competent authority

Part of regular tasks 2014

2. Organization of regular annual meetings of the joint coordination group

MAE and Croatian competent authority

State budgets

2,000 € per meeting

First meeting in 2014

INSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION

Wolf conservation is a multidimensional issue often dealt with from different perspectives. There are several

interest groups that have direct or indirect interest in wolf conservation (hunters, farmers, environmental

NGOs…), and general public is usually not indifferent. For wolf population conservation it is primarily important

cooperation among agricultural and nature conservation sectors.

Goal:

1. Harmonized policies of large carnivore conservation, farming and spatial planning.

14 | LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244

Measures:


1. Regular cooperation of the leaders of the sectors within the MAE

MAE Part of regular tasks Regular meetings

GAME SPECIES MANAGEMENT

Several studies have shown that the intensity of wolf attacks to livestock increases when natural prey is not

abundant. That is why appropriate management of prey species (in Slovenia primarily red deer and roe deer) is

one of the key issues in ensuring long-term survival of wolves.

Goal:

1. Taking into account presence of wolves in game species management.

2. Ensured sufficient prey base for wolves.

Objectives:

1. Planning of wolf prey species management takes into account wolf impact to those populations.

2. Maintained or even improved wolf prey base.

Measures:


1. Continuous implementation of recommendations produced within the SloWolf project

SFS, IRSNC Part of regular tasks Continuously

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN WOLF MANAGEMENT

Public participation in decision-making is increasingly becoming an important prerequisite for achieving social

acceptability of environmental issues that affect livelihoods of different individuals or groups. Insufficient

involvement of different groups can lead to misinterpretations of management options and subsequently lack

of public support for implementation of those management options. Mutual trust among different

stakeholders also increases with use of different approaches to public participation.

Goal:

1. Active involvement of representatives of different interest groups in wolf population management and

their support to the management.

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244 | 15

Objectives:

1. Involvement of interest groups in development of wolf conservation action plan for the next period

(2018 – 2022).

2. Improved tolerance and mutual trust of key interest groups.

3. Good understanding of opinions and expectations of different interest groups.

4. Science-based management.

Measures:


1. Development of wolf conservation action plan for the period 2018 – 2022 with participation of key interest groups

MAE and external experts

State budget

5,000 €

2017

2. Actively involve hunters in wolf population monitoring activities.

MAE and expert organizations involved in monitoring

Funding secured within monitoring

Continuously

3. Implementation of public attitudes survey in the Alpine part of wolf range

BF LIFE WOLFALPS project

40,000 €

2014 and 2017

4. Regular meetings and compensations for external members of the Expert committee for support to planning of the large carnivore management

MAE Part of regular tasks and 100 € per meeting for external members

Monthly

5. Yearly meetings of Large carnivore management working group

MAE Part of regular tasks Yearly

INFORMATION AND DISSEMINATON

Key target groups for informational activities in wolf conservation are:

Local public – inhabitants of wolf areas are the ones sharing their space with the wolves and can

therefore feel threatened by wolves. This is especially the case with the local inhabitants of the areas

where wolves have been absent and are now coming back.

Hunters can directly impact wolf population by hunting them or their prey. At the same time, they are

a group that has a relatively good knowledge of wolf biology and already formed attitudes toward

wolves. Hunters need to be directly involved in wolf management, primarily into population

monitoring activities as this can positively influence their views of wolves.

Farmers have mainly negative experiences with wolves and their perceptions of wolves differ from

those of hunters or general public. Therefore they need more specific information about the causes

and solutions for the conflicts wolf cause in agriculture.

School children are a group of future decision-makers that Is just forming their attitudes toward

wolves.

16 | LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244

Goals:

1. Positive attitudes and better tolerance of wolves and its management among specific interest groups.

2. Public that is familiar with and understands wolf management.

3. Good knowledge of dynamics of public attitudes toward wolves.

Objectives:

1. Increased awareness about the best practices in damage prevention.

2. Increased awareness of hunters about the consequences of illegal shooting of wolves.

3. Objective and balanced media reports.

4. Regular surveys of public attitudes toward wolves.

Measures:


1. Quick reaction to biased reporting in the media by sharing objective information.

BF, SFS, MAE, ISRNC

Part of regular tasks As needed

2. Educational campaign targeting farmers on damage prevention.

CAFS and LIFE WOLFAPS (for Alpine part)

State budget 1,000 € per year and

LIFE WOLFALPS 1,000 € per year

2015 until the end of the project

3. Inform hunters about the consequences of illegal killing of wolves.

SFS State budget 1,000 € per year

Continuously

4. Maintain web page about wolves (www.volkovi.si)

BF Voluntary work and 20 € per year for domain, own budget

Continuously

DECREASING OF ILLEGAL KILLINGS OF WOLVES

Illegal and therefore uncontrolled killing of animals represents a threat to many animal species worldwide.

Causes for illegal killing are diverse: conflicts with livestock husbandry and other damages to human property,

alleged danger to human lives and health, competition for the same prey, poor management by the authorities,

etc. The biggest problem of illegal killings is that there is no control over what, where and when is happening

and there is a real probability that such intervention can become unsustainable.

In Slovenia there are few confirmed cases of illegal shooting of wolves. It is however difficult to estimate the

real rates or numbers of such illegal events.

Goal:

1. Prevention of illegal shootings of wolves.

Objectives:

1. Target groups (hunters and farmers) involved in wolf population management.

2. Aware and critical general public.

3. Collected data on illegal killings of wolves and known motives for illegal killings.

http://www.volkovi.si/

LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244 | 17

4. Poachers punished.

Measures:


1. Possibility of legal hunting of wolves in accordance with chapter “Interventions into the wolf population”.

MAE Part of regular tasks Continuously

2. Raising public awareness as planned in the chapter “Information and dissemination”

LIFE WOLFALPS and other expert institutions

Projects Continuously

3. Enhance cooperation with inspectors, police, prosecution and customs.

MAE, SFS and IRSNC

Part of regular tasks Continuously

This publication was produced in 2013 with support from the

European Union’s LIFE Fund and the Ministry of Agriculture

and Environment in the framework of LIFE-Nature Project

Conservation and surveillance of conservation status of wolf

(Canis lupus) population in Slovenia (LIFE08 NAT/SLO/000244)

ABOUT THE

AFTER-LIFE

CONSERVATION

PLAN

At the end of their projects, all LIFE

Nature beneficiaries are obliged to

produce an After-LIFE Conservation

Plan. The plan sets out how

conservation activities are planned to

continue and to develop after the end

of the project, and how the longer-

term management of the project

site(s) will be assured. It should give

details regarding what actions will be

carried out, when, by whom, and using

what sources of finance.

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