Large carnivore conservation in the Czech Republic
with a view to the Beskydy Mts.
Miroslav Kutal
Hnutí DUHA Olomouc / Friends of the Earth Czech Republic
Dolní náměstí 38, 77200 Olomouc, Czech Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
www.selmy.cz (English version: www.carnivores.cz)
The Czech large carnivore project is aimed to protect and develop
natural and socio-political conditions necessary for the maintenance
and the return of large predators to the areas of their original
existence in the Czech Republic, especially to the Beskydy
Mountains – the part of the Western Carpathians and also the
Šumava Mts. (South Bohemia region).
Šumava
Mts.
Beskydy
Mts.
The Beskydy Mountains
The Beskydy Mountains located on the Czech – Slovak border function as an important gateway
for large predators. The species of major concern – the gray wolf (Canis lupus), the Eurasian
lynx (Lynx lynx) and the brown bear (Ursus arctos) were exterminated in this area in early
1900s. Lynx started to return mainly from the Slovak Carpathians since 1950’s, bears followed
in early 70’s and finally wolves came back in 1994, as far as we have noticed. The Beskydy Mts.
are the only region in the Czech Republic where all large carnivores occur regularly. Despite full
legal protection, poaching still remains a major threat for these species.
Two mountain regions in the Czech Republic where the vast majority
of large carnivores lives.
The large carnivore project is realized by NGO Friends of the Earth CR in cooperation with other NGOs and state
institutions. It has several parts and works at different levels: national, local and on specific target groups. The
activities are in accordance with the last draft of Czech Management plan for large carnivores.
Local level
Since 1999, we have focused on public awareness campaign in the Beskydy region. It has included discussion
forums in villages, school education programs, information material distribution and also monitoring and actions
against poaching – so called “Wolf Patrols”. Furthermore, we have announced the reward of 50.000 Czech
crowns for the person, who informs us about poaching. The funding comes from individual donors. We hope the
reward offer will help to expose poachers and discourage hunters from illegal hunting for protected species of
animals. About 50.000 leaflets with this information have been distributed in Carpathian and South Bohemian
villages. We also participate in decision making processes to promote the maintenance of important migration
corridors and suggest the functional solutions for their restoration.
The preview of the postcards and the cover of the brochure about
bears – material distributed to hotels and chalets in the Beskydy Mts.
Training session for new volunteers and monitoring.
Wolf Patrols
“Wolf Patrols” are small groups (2 to 4 members) of trained volunteers who
oversee the selected area and act as guards against illegal hunting and trapping.
They monitor tracks of large carnivores, search for the illegal baits and
discourage hunters from poaching. The project has started in the Beskydy Mts. in
1999 and about 50 new concerned people join “Wolf Patrols” yearly. Every year
the volunteers received necessary training provided in cooperation with experts
from the Administration of Protected Landscape Area Beskydy and NGO
Beskydčan. Wolf Patrols are also important source of local community
involvement, volunteers help with the distribution of information materials,
communicate with tourists and local people. Since 2005, similar “Lynx Patrols”
have monitored the Šumava region in South Bohemia.
National level
On the national level, we have worked on Management plan for large carnivores in the Czech Republic, which has
been prepared in cooperation with Agency for nature conservation and landscape protection of the CR and with Czech
Academy of Sciences. We have also developed and run a website about large carnivores (www.selmy.cz) and signed
an agreement with Czech Hunters Association on cooperation in large carnivore conservation.
Specific target groups
Hunters are probably the most important stakeholders and their often negative attitude
towards wolf and lynx presence is the main threat for both species in the Czech
Republic. We organized several discussion forums for hunters in 2007 and released
scientific publication aimed at hunter and forest managers. In 2008, closer cooperation
between nature conservationists and hunters should start within a new project dealing
with monitoring of prey killed by lynx and wolf.
Discussion forum with hunters, Beskydy Mts.
International cooperation
We have been in contact especially with Slovak NGOs for long time. In April 2008, we
organized “Central European wolf conference“ with participants from Slovakia, Poland,
Romania, Hungary and Germany. Proceedings from the conference will be published at
www.selmy.cz / www.carnivores.cz
Acknowledgments
Our activities for the last five years have been supported by the International Visegrad Fund, the European Commission (programne YOUTH), Audubon
Naturalist Society, Friends of the Earth Europe, Czech Ministry of Environment, Czech Animal conservation trust (“Nadace na ochranu zvířat”),
Carpathian EcoRegion Initiative, Czech union for nature conservation, and some individual donors, whose contributions we gratefully acknowledge.
Photographs: Jan Parma, Jiří Procházka, Martin Berka, Barbora Šlachtová, Leona Machalová. Illustrations: Ludvík Kunc
You can download this poster
from www.carnivores.cz