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Multidimensional approach to large carnivore management in Croatia

With all there biological features, there important place in the minds of humans, potential to make harm to the human property, and the considerable amount of international interest for their conservation, the management of large carnivores in Europe is very challenging. Supporting stable populations of brown bears (Ursus arctos), gray wolves (Canis lupus) and Eurasian lynxes (Lynx lynx) requires multidimensional approach to satisfy various interest groups. The management plans are expected to bring together different interests such as ecological, aesthetical and economic, as well as care for the safety of people and their properties. They should also ensure conditions for the long-term survival of the large carnivores, the species listed as endangered by different international regulations. Bears are game species in Croatia, while wolves and lynxes are legally protected. Careful evaluation of the actions affecting the population size represents the most critical part of these plans. Those actions should ensure the sizes of populations within the social capacity of the habitat. In other words, the densities of bears, wolves and lynxes should be acceptable to people. In this way, possible conflicts with people are minimized, whilst the long-term viability of populations will be ensured. In order to achieve this goal, a series of other actions and measures related to the habitat and human activities in the habitat (e.g. highway construction and so on), the feeding of bears by humans, the prevention of occurrences of problematic individuals and the scientific monitoring of all changes in the population have to be regulated. The implementation of plans is, for the most part, a task of the hunting management experts, however, representatives of all other interest groups should also be actively involved. Finally, the plans should undergo occasional revisions, which should take place more often than is the case for some other management plans. In large carnivore management there are no final and universal solutions. Each change in the number of animals, the areas of their presence or behavior, requires new decisions. The plans offer guidelines for the decision-making process, and in the case of new circumstances, they will be adjusted through revision processes. Croatian citizens, citizens of neighboring countries, as well as Europe and the world, expect that Croatia, with its Brown Bear Management Plan, Wolf Management Plan, and Lynx Management Plan, officially accepted in 2004, will ensure the long-term existence of optimum large carnivore populations and their habitats, with as few negative effects as possible.

large carnivores; management; Croatia

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