Preventing conflicts with bears and wolves in Slovenia

Like in many places throughout the world, conflicts between large carnivores and people are the single most important aspect of carnivore conservation and management in human-dominated landscapes such as Europe. There are many... [ view full abstract ]

Like in many places throughout the world, conflicts between large carnivores and people are the single most important aspect of carnivore conservation and management in human-dominated landscapes such as Europe. There are many techniques how to prevent such conflicts, but not all of them are always effective. Therefore, sound research aiming to understand causes of conflicts and effectiveness of various management measures is a key part of any successful management program. In this talk I will present measures used to reduce the conflicts between local people and large carnivores in Slovenia and research behind our science-based management. Most conflicts involving grey wolves are connected with damages on livestock, especially sheep. To reduce these depredations, culling of wolves by shooting up to a third of the population annually had been prescribed for several years. However, recent research demonstrated that this measure did not have any detectable effect on number of damages caused by wolves. This is likely connected with the social system and territorial behaviour of wolves. On the other hand, improved protection of livestock using electric fences and livestock guarding dogs helped in reducing the damages caused by wolves in Slovenia by 74%. Conflicts with brown bears are more diverse and in addition to livestock depredations, bears also cause damages in agriculture and on beehives. Of special concern are bear intrusions into the villages, causing fear among local people. Important factors in human-bear conflicts are number of bears and availability of food. Because the brown bear is not a territorial species, its number is primarily dictated by food availability, which is very high in Slovenia due to intensive supplemental feeding. Data collected with GPS telemetry further showed that garbage and other types of anthropogenic food are important drivers of intrusions of bears into human settlements. Based on this research, managers are now starting to focus on preventing access to human foods using measures such as bear-proof composts and garbage bins, electric fences, and education of local inhabitants. Further improvements of management regarding regulation of supplemental feeding of bears to reduce unwanted side effects of this measure were also suggested.