European wildcat protection - Connecting habitats and people

The restoration of Central Europe’s network of wildlife corridors is one of the most significant challenges for nature conservation. The environmental NGO Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND/ Friends of the... [ view full abstract ]

The restoration of Central Europe’s network of wildlife corridors is one of the most significant challenges for nature conservation. The environmental NGO Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND/ Friends of the Earth Germany) initiated a comprehensive project on biotope networking called “The Safety Net for the European Wildcat” in 2004. The ambitious aim of the project is to establish a continuous forest network throughout Germany. Isolated forests are reconnected by planting trees and bushes alongside suitable corridor routes. Although the wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) is the target species of the initiative many other species benefit, thereby improving the stability of entire forest ecosystems. Today the BUND has implemented 23 green corridors in five federal states and is currently working on several more. Another focus of the project is to establish a nationwide genetic database for the wildcat in collaboration with the Senckenberg Institute in Gelnhausen. Wooden sticks treated with valerian serve as lures, attracting wildcats to leave some hair for genetic analysis. So far, the database contains almost 2900 samples of more than 800 individual wildcats – a unique data treasure of worldwide relevance. Based on this genetic data it is possible to draw inferences about migratory movements, the impact of landscape barriers on the animals and most urgent regions for new corridors.

Central factor for the success of the project is the participation and support of a broad variety of people – stakeholders as well as volunteers. The implementation of corridors implicates a high potential for conflicts with land users due to the high competition for land by further infrastructural development, agriculture and nature conservation. Therefore, the basic prerequisite is a good collaboration among nature conservationists, the public authorities, landowners, farmers and hunters. To achieve this, all concerned stakeholders are actively involved in the discussions from the outset and a steady dialogue is established. In the context of the genetic monitoring of wildcats numerous people dedicated to the European wildcat have been connected by the BUND. Focus of commitment is the involvement of volunteers in the supervision of lure sticks and the collection of hair samples. With more than 52,000 inspections of lure sticks, more than 800 people have contributed to the genetic database so far. The participation of voluntary nature conservationists in this research is an applied example of “citizen science”. In 2016 an evaluation of the involvement of volunteers engaged in wildcat monitoring was conducted with the aim to investigate the motivations, findings and experiences of the volunteers and to derive success factors for comparable projects. The survey verified that the interest in science was the most important motivation factor for voluntary involvement in this project. Therefore the communication about the positive impact of voluntary commitment and the scientific results was significant for the participants. Furthermore, a well-designed framework for participation and the availability of responsible persons was of special importance for the volunteers.