CONSERVATION AND SURVEILLANCE OF
CONSERVATION STATUS OF WOLF (CANIS
LUPUS) POPULATION IN SLOVENIA
PROJECT LOCATION: permanent and sporadic occurence of
wolves in Slovenia
BUDGET INFO:
Total amount: 1,017,773 €
% EC Co-funding: 70.92 %
DURATION: Start: 01/01/2010 – End: 31/12/2013
PROJECT’S IMPLEMENTATORS:
Coordinating Beneficiary: University of Ljubljana
Associated Beneficiaries: Slovenian Forest Service and
Dinaricum Society
BACKGROUND & MAIN GOAL OF THE PROJECT:
The project targets at facilitating long-term conservation of wolves, their prey base and their habitats in Slovenia, and
their co-existence with humans.
1. ELABORATION OF THE WOLF POPULATION ACTION PLAN
- 5 facilitated workshops for the development of the action plan
- Open process – invited all interest groups
- Transboundary component – wolf experts and decision-makers from Croatia also participated
22.0
13.4
10.2
27.6
26.8
19.7
12.9
15.9
26.5
25.0
5.0
6.8
1.8
19.6
66.7
2.9
5.4
3.4
19.1
69.1
5.6
7.7
5.0
19.8
61.9
5.2
5.2
8.4
21.3
59.9
Obm. SP Obm. OP
1 –Completely disagree
2
3
5 – Completely agree
4
FARMERS HUNTERS GENERAL PUBLIC
% w
ithin
area PA OA
2. ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES TOWARD WOLVES AND WOLF
MANAGEMENT
„It is important to maintain wolf population in Slovenia for future generations.“
1. Field-collected spatial and demographic parameters
(HOWLING , SNOWTRACKING)
2. Examination and analyses of dead wolves
3. Conservation status – non-invasive genetics
4. GPS – GSM telemetry
3. ESTABLISHMENT OF SURVEILLANCE OF WOLF POPULATION
CONSERVATION STATUS
The method was and will be used to obtain data on territorial packs/pairs and reproduction events - litters.
3. 1 Howling tests
pups & adults
pups
2 or more adults
one wolf
3. 1.1 Howling tests – example: results from year 2012
• obtain data on wolf distribution
• data on distribution of packs
• winter pack sizes
• characteristics of wolves‘ movements
• non-invasive genetic samples
• (analyses of prey remains)
3. 2 Snowtracking
Objectives:
1. Abundance and population dynamics.
2. Pack social structure + dynamics, territories.
3. Damage assesment – who dunnit?
4. Wolf-dog interactions.
5. Population genetics.
3. 3 Genetic monitoring of the wolves
recorded (!) mortality 2010-11
recorded (!) mortality 2011-12
Estimate 11-12 Estimate 10-11
SLO
SLO +transboundary packs
October 2010: Slo+GK = 49 (43-58) Slo = 41 (35-50)
March 2011: Slo+GK = 37 (31-46) Slo = 31 (25-40)
October 2011: Slo+GK = 47 (44-51) Slo = 41 (38-45)
March 2012: Slo+GK = 35 (32-39) Slo = 31 (28-35)
reproduction + immigration parentage analysis – teasing apart
fecundity and immigration (ongoing) N
um
be
r o
f w
olv
es
Date
3.3.1 Number of wolves in Slovenia 2010-2012
In many packs wolves have more than one partner. -Not finished yet… to do: • proportion of losses of reproductive animals • undetected loss of reproductive animals
(poaching or background mortality)
3.3.2 Pack dynamics (example)
Some suspected hybrids.
Currently being re-assessed with a considerable higher number of markers (35 vs. 11)
Reference Wolves Reference Dogs Unknown
Suspect hybrids?
3.3.3 Wolf-dog hybrization
Introduced through SloWolf, now a routine procedure for all suspect damage cases (funded by the competent ministry) Non-negligible proportionof domestic dogs detected (preliminary analysis ~17% of cases, mostly at the killing wound). Some collection bias.
3.3.4 Predator damage species indentification
Slavc, 40 kg, 17.7.2011-27.8.2012 Dispersed to Italy
Brin, 38 kg 13.4.2010 - 20.10.2010 (legally shot)
Luka, 26 kg, 27.8.2011 –15.5.2012 Signal lost (car accident)
Vojko, 39 kg 6.5.2011 – 26.9.2011 Signal lost (poaching?)
Tia, 30 kg 5.7.2012-22.9.2012 Legally shot
Tonka, 33 kg 18.5.2012-18.9.2012 Signal lost (poaching)
3.4 SURVEILLANCE OF INDIVIDUAL WOLVES USING GPS-GSM
TELEMETRY: 2010-2012
WOLF
DATE
CAPTURE DESTINY
BRIN 13.4.2010 20.10.2010 legally shot
VOJKO 6.5.2011 26.9.2011 signal lost (probable poaching)
SLAVC 17.7.2011 27.8.2012 drop-off, emigration to Italy, still alive
LUKA 27.8.2011 15.5.2012 signal lost (car accident; probably still alive)
TONKA 18.5.2012 18.9.2012 signal lost (poaching)
TIA 5.7.2012 22.9.2012 legally shot
JASNA 15.8.2013 Collar active
DESTINIES OF WOLVES RADIOCOLLARED WITHIN SLOWOLF
66 prey remains located
3.4.1 GPS-GSM telemetry – locating prey remains
3.4.2 GPS-GSM telemetry – locating dens, pup mortality
Pathoanatomy
Pathohistology
Parasitology
Bacteriology
Virology
3.5 EXAMINATION & ANALYSIS OF DEAD WOLVES
The idea…
• To harness the power of Internet and public interest for wolves for collecting monitoring data.
• To facilitate data sharing and exchange between experts.
• To disseminate information about wolf presence to the interested public.
3.6 THE WOLF MONITORING PORTAL
- Assessment of wolf natural prey base in Slovenia (pellet group+cull data) - Impacts of the wolves on pop. dynamics of ungulates - Integration of the wolves in ungulate management
4 WOLF HABITAT: MANAGEMENT OF PREY SPECIES
NO.OF
CASES
NO. OF
CLAIM. VALUE
VALUE
%
VALUE %
CUMULATIVE
> 50 1 28965 EUR 11 % /
20 – 50 3 45418 EUR 18 % 29 %
10 – 20 3 31015 EUR 12 % 42 %
5 – 10 11 39138 EUR 15 % 57 %
2 – 5 35 69841 EUR 28 % 84 %
1 53 39451 EUR 16 % 100 %
TOTAL 106 253828 EUR 100 % /
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 16
31
46
61
76
91
10
6
12
1
13
6
15
1
16
6
18
1
19
6
21
1
22
6
24
1
25
6
27
1
28
6
30
1
31
6% Š
KO
DN
IH P
RIM
ERO
V (
št.)
ŠT. UPRAVIČENCEV
ŠT. UPRAVIČENCEV - % ŠKODNIH PRIMEROV
Podatki za leto 2009
NO. OF CLAIMENTS - % OF DAMAGE CASES
ŠT. OVAC V SLO 1992 - 2009
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009
LETO
ŠT
. O
VA
C
5 WOLF DAMAGES TO AGRICULTURE
5.1 ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGES
5 WOLF DAMAGES TO AGRICULTURE
5.2 Training seminar for damage inspectors, handbook for
damage inspection
5 WOLF DAMAGES TO AGRICULTURE
5.3 Training of agriculture advisory service in damage prevention
measures
5 WOLF DAMAGES TO AGRICULTURE
5.4 Best practice demonstration of damage prevention measures
6 PUBLIC AWARENESS AND EDUCATION CAMPAIGN ABOUT
WOLVES ON NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVEL
6.1 Promotion of coexistence of wolves with agriculture
6.2 Education campaign on wolves for hunters in wolf areas
6.3 Project web page & facebook
VISITS TO THE WEB PAGE: Web page traffic is monitored since October 15, 2010 (using Google Page Analytics) Oct. 6th 2012 – Oct. 6th 2013 22,444 visits - 51% new visits.
- Average time of a visit: 3 min 14 sek. - Countries with the most visits: Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, …
25 – 27 September, Postojna, Slovenia
Conference opening: Slovene minister of Agriculture and the Environment Mr. Židan and a video-conference by Commissioner Potočnik 188 participants from 22 countries registered 164 participated
2 days of lectures in 5 topics (33 lectures; 29 poster presentations) - WOLF SOCIOBIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY - POPULATION MONITORING - GENETICS AND MOLECULAR ECOLOGY - CONFLICT MITIGATION AND RESOLUTION - WOLVES AND HUMAN ATTITUDES
2 workshops
Printed book of abstracts
1 day excursion in wolf habitat
Networking with LIFE WolfNet (Italy)
7 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: WOLF CONSERVATION IN
HUMAN DOMINATED LANDSCAPES