Although Romania is home to Europe's largest wolf population, this species is endangered.
Although Romania is home to Europe's largest wolf population, this species is endangered because of habitat fragmentation, poaching and improper management. The lack of a national management plan and of concrete information on the structure and dynamics of the wolf population may lead to improper management, likely to impact this species in the long run. In order to maintain a viable and healthy population of wolves in the Carpathian Mountains in the long run, the Environment Protection Agency in Vrancea, in collaboration with the Harghita and Covasna branches and a local NGO, have been running a European project called 'WolfLife'. The project is being implemented over a period of 4 years, until 2018, in the central and southern part of the Eastern Carpathians, covering six counties. Although wolves are protected at domestic and international level under a series of laws and conventions, such as the Berne Convention, the Cites Convention, the European Directive and the Hunting Law, wolves continue to be a threatened species. The WolfLife project however might change that to some extent. Within a year since the launch of the WolfLife project, a number of important data has been collected about the life of wolves in the Carpathian Mountains.
Silviu Chiriac with the Vrancea Environmental Protection Agency, a project manager and expert in the protection of big carnivores, tells us more about the project: "We have signaled, first of all, the presence of stray dogs in the habitats populated by wolves, as being a serious threat, because of diseases and competition over food. Also, the important damages that wolves cause to farms can lead to many conflicts between farmers and wolves to the detriment of the latter. Then there is the negative image that this species has among the rural and urban population, which is also likely to escalate conflicts in the future. Given all these, we have decided to take concrete action in the counties of Valcea, Bacau, Mures, Covasna, Harghita and Neamt, in order to protect the wolves."
An inventory of the wolf packs and an analysis of their habits, size and mortality rate have been some of the actions taken under this project. Silviu Chiriac: "As regards the size of the territories and the packs, we found out that the packs in the Carpathians are not as big as the ones in the northern part of the American continent. In Romania, an average pack is made up of 3 to 5 wolves in wintertime, while in the north of the American continent a pack counts up to 24 members. The size of the pack is directly linked with the food available, because in Romania the prey is not as abundant as managers of the hunting areas say. Wolves feed on stray dogs, which account for at least 20% of their diet. There could be two reasons for that: we either have too many stray dogs in the forest, which is, as I have already said before, a threat, or the other species that wolves feed on, such as hart, deer and wild boar, are scarce."
The data collected as part of the WolfLife project indicates that strays dogs and sheep dogs left unsupervised in forests in Romania have a significant impact on wild life. To solve these problems, sheep owners are advised to give up mixed breed dogs and use instead traditional shepherd dogs. Silviu Chiriac explains: "In March, the environment ministry in Romania will become, to my knowledge, the first environment body in Europe to have its own kennel for breeding traditional Carpathian shepherd dogs. This breed has been patented in Romania and has been very efficient in sheep herding. The Carpathian shepherd dog is a very docile type of dog that does not attack people and does not stray from the sheepfold to attack wild animals. By breeding this dog, we try to help shepherds. We intend to create a network of shepherd dog owners, each of whom will receive from us a male and a female dog, free of charge. The shepherds will be obliged by contract to support the dogs and donate the puppies to other shepherds or dog owners. The network will thus expand."
The WolfLife project also aims to achieve better cohabitation between the wolves and the locals, says Silviu Chiriac: "We have established a demonstrative area in six counties to show shepherds how to reduce the damage to sheepfold caused by wolves, bears and lynxes. We have given electric fences to six farmers from each of the six counties, as well as sound and odour repellent systems to keep out the wolves. The farmers can use these systems free of charge and starting next summer we will organise bus trips for shepherds from other areas to see how these systems work and learn how to keep out predators."
Wolves play an important role in maintaining wild life viability and the perpetuation of natural ecosystems of environmental, scientific and tourist importance. To end, let us just note that the Romanian Carpathians are home to over 2,700 wolves.
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