08.08.07

Large carnivores in the southeast of Europe - Greece, Georgia and Turkey

From Turkey we have two short notes about the rediscovery of striped hyaena in Turkey, along with pdfs of a field guide to Turkish carnivores and a published interview with Ozgun Emre Can. [Link].

From Greece we have pdfs of a number of brochures dealing with wolf conservation, brown bear conservation and the recognition of bear signs in the field. [Link].

From Georgia is an MSc thesis exploring the welfare issues of captive brown bears. [Link].

07.08.07

Living with bears, recognising carnivore tracks, protecting livestock and how to react when you meet a bear.

A wealth of information materials have become available in Norwegian, Swedish and French, designed to provide practical advice to people directly affected by the presence of large carnivores.

Living with Bears - brochures on how to live alongside bears, how to care for bees in bear areas and how to conduct recreation in safety in bear country - in Norwegian and Swedish [Link].

New reports from the Swedish Wildlife Damage Center on the use of livestock guarding dogs, on recognising carnivore tracks, on the conflict between wolves and dogs, and an overview of livestock - carnivore conflict mitigation - all in Swedish [Link].

Two new brochures for hikers from the French Pyrenees bear recovery project explaining how to deal when you encounter a bear, and when you encounter a livestock guarding dog [Link].

24.07.07

New pdf files on livestock conflict mitigation from the LIFE CoEx project

A wide range of new pdf files have been added from this LIFE funded project on carnivore - livestock conflict mitigation. Various documents are in English, Portugese, Spanish, French, Italian and Croatian. New files added include;

Guidelines on the use of livestock guarding dogs [Link]

Guidelines on the use of electric fences [Link]

Posters and leaflets about wolves and bears and conflict mitigation [Link]

Abstracts from a conference on "Large carnivores and agriculture" held in Assisi in March, 2007 [Link]

01.07.07

New publications on Iberian lynx conservation

Updates of the "Lynx Brief Newsletter" by Dan Ward.

Updates to the "Information Bulletin from the Iberian Lynx Ex-situ Conservation Program".

The proceedings of a seminar series on "Iberian lynx ex-situ conservation" held in southern Spain from September to November 2007, covering topics such as veterinary care, husbandry, reproductive physiology and potential reintroduction.

30.06.07

Reports from the 3rd International workshop on Brown Bear in the Alps

The 3rd International workshop on brown bear conservation in the Alps was held at Triesenberg in the Principality of Liechtenstein from the 14-16th of May 2007. This short summary of the meeting covers the main conclusions of the meeting. [Link] (In English, with summary in German, French, Italian and Slovenian).

15.06.07

A new population estimate for bears and lynx in Norway and for wolves in Scandinavia

Based on DNA isolated from 720 bear scats that were collected by hunters and naturalists during autumn 2006, researchers at Bioforsks Svanhovd laboratory in northern Norway have produced a new estimate for the number of bears in central and northern Norway. They found evidence for 71 individuals within the study area which covers most of Norwegian bear range. This represents a slight increase on previous estimates, but still falls far short of the goals which parliament set in 1997. Read the report [Link] (In Norwegian).

The annual census of lynx in Norway is based around counts of family groups (adult females with dependent kittens). The estimate for winter 2006-07 was for 69-74 family groups, which is the equivalent to a total population of 409-439 lynx. This represents an 11-14% increase on the previous years count. Read the report [Link] (In Norwegian).

The annual census  of wolves in Scandinavia, plus some information from Finland, for the winter of 2005-2006 is now online. There were 141-160 individual wolves present, distributed between 15 packs and 14-15 pairs. The majority of wolves (102-119) were in Sweden with 15-17 wolves in Norway and a further 24 wolves used regions on both sides of the border. Read the reports [Link] (In Norwegian).

30.05.07

Human dimensions of large carnivore management in Finland, Austria, and Slovakia

A set of three reports have appeared that describe the human dimensions of management for bears, lynx and wolves in Finland. The three species always attract social controversy, and these reports are based on extensive surveys and public hearings during the preperation of management plans [Links] (In Finnish).

In addition, there is a new report on the level of public acceptance for large carnivores in Austria by Maria Wechselberger and Diana Leizinger, funded by WWF-Austria. [Link] (In German).

Finally, a report has come out on the public acceptance of bears, wolves and lynx in Slovakia by Maria Wechselberger, Robin Rigg and Svetlana Beťková [Link] (In English).

02.03.07

A new wolf management concept for Germany

Ilka Reinhardt and Gesa Kluth from Lupus Consulting have produced a report that outlines a great deal of background material and presents a potential management concept for consideration for the future of wolves in Germany [Link] (In German).

In addition, some new information materials on wolves in Saxony are now available in pdf format, including (1) a brochure on "Living with the wolf" (Mit Wölfen Leben), (2) a brochure on "When you meet a wolf" (Wenn sie einem Wolf begegnen), and (3) an information magazine called "Wolf" (Wölfe) from the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety [Link] (In German).

Finally, two new studies are complete. One looks at the human dimensions and attitudes of the German public to wolf presence [Link] (In German), and the second explores the potential for conflict between wolves and hunters [Link] (In German).

31.10.06

New pdf files

COEX project - new Project Presentation Brochures in French, Portugese, Spanish and Croatian, along with guides on using Livestock Guarding Dogs and Electric Fences to prevent depredation on livestock in Italian.

Hunting large carnivores is highly controversial - but whatever ones view there is no denying that hunters are an important stakeholder group with respect to information. These four information brochures are designed to inform hunters about the ecology of bears, wolves, Eurasian lynx and wolverines, as well as provide information on practical, ethical and legal aspects of large carnivore hunting. Produced by the Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers together with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research - (In Norwegian).

Switzerland has also produced a new management plan for bears - called the "Swiss Bear Concept" to deal with eventualities such as the Italian bear, JJ2, who passed briefly through Switzerland last summer.

26.10.06

New pdf files

"JJ1 "Bruno"  in Austria and Germany 2006, Chronology and Risk Assessment" by the Austrian Bear Emergency team. - This is the definitive account of the summer's events.

"Proceedings of the 2nd International Seminar on the Conservation of the Iberian Lynx", held in Cordoba, Spain 15-17 December 2004.

New monthly bulletins from the Iberian Lynx Ex-Situ Conservation Project

"Large carnivore livestock conflicts in Italy: mitigation for coexistence". A review of conflicts and the success of mitigation systems.

"Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on the Status and Conservation of the Alpine Lynx Population", held in Amden, Switzerland 7-9 May 2003.

"COEX - Improving the coexistence of large carnivores and agriculture in southern Europe" - Project description and two bulletins from this new LIFE funded project.

01.09.06

New project on transboundary management

Large carnivores range over wide areas. It is normal for individuals to roam over hundreds, or even thousands, of square kilometers. The result is that large carnivore populations stretch over massive areas, which under European conditions imply that the span several countries. For example, the Carpathian populations include 8 countries. At present large carnivores are managed on a national basis, which makes little biological sense considering the transboundary nature of their populations. Recognising this, the European Commission has awarded the LCIE a contract to develop "Guidelines for population level management plans for large carnivores". The project aims to recommend ways to bring about coordinated management of large carnivore populations on the spatial scales that their ecology dictates. [Link]

01.09.06

New pdf files

"Handbook on protecting sheep against wolf depredation" (in Polish)

"Ecology, census, perception and development of wolves in Spain: an analysis of a conflict" (in Spanish)

"Status of wolves in Castila y Leon in 2001". (in Spanish)

"Livestock subsidy systems in Europe and reform proposals to benefit large carnivore conservation" (in English)

01.06.06

A totally new web site

The LCIE website has been given a total facelift! Most of the original content is still here - but there are now over 500 new documents. Our focus is now on making the website into a portal for access to large carnivore literature, reports, brochures and resources from across Europe, all of which is provided in pdf format. All files are marked with their language and the file size. So check carefully before starting a download - some of them are large.

Files are organised under themes, populations, and species. There is a good deal of cross referencing - but not 100% - so check under several possible headings if you are looking for a specific file.

If you have some materials that you want to share, just send them to the webmaster.

22:12:05

New status report on European wolves

A new overview report of the status of wolves in Europe and an outline of the threats facing their conservation has been completed. The report was commissioned by the Council of Europe and prepared as a document for the latest Bern Convention meeting as part of the background evaluation to a Swiss proposal to change the conservation status of the wolf. [English 1.1MB]

A second report on the legal aspects of wolf management under the Bern Convention was also prepared by Clare Shine. [English 0.2MB]

21:12:05

New wolf management plan for Finland

Finland has just approved a new wolf management plan. Finnish wolf management has recently been hotly debated in the EU, and there is currently a judgement pending from the European Court on whether Finland's wolf control is compatible with their obligations under the Habitats Directive. This new plan provides a full overview of the status, ecology and conflicts of wolves in Finland, and provides a new and concrete plan for future management. [Finnish] [English]

20.12.05

Carnivore Damage Prevention News #9

Latest issue has just been released - our second issue with a special focus on Livestock Guarding Dogs [English 2.4MB]