Hunting legislation in the Carpathian Mountains: implications for the conservation and management of large carnivores
Salvatori, V., Okarma, H., Ionescu, O., Dovhanych, Y., Find'o, S. & Boitani, L. 2002: Hunting legislation in the Carpathian Mountains: implications for the conservation and management of large carnivores. - Wildl. Biol. 8: 3-10.
The importance of conserving wild populations of large carnivores in balance with local human interests has been recognised throughout the world. However, diverse human activities are in potential conflict with the conservation of large carnivore species. We discuss the role that hunters have in the management of three large carnivore species, the brown bear Ursus arctos, the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx and the wolf Canis lupus in the Carpathian Mountains in central Europe. We considered four different countries (i.e. Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania), comparing the status of large carnivore populations and the regulations of hunting activities. The situation appears to be generally consistent throughout the Carpathian region, although the degree of protection accorded to wolf varies most. Interactions between large carnivores and hunters are well rooted in the culture of local communities in the four countries considered. The large forested areas make the Carpathians an excellent environment for large carnivores, which here are favoured by low human population density. We underline the need for integration of hunting activities and scientific knowledge for future management practices.
Key words: Carpathian ecoregion, hunting, integrated management, large carnivores
Valeria Salvatori, Istituto di Ecologia Applicata (IEA), Via Spallanzani 32, IT-00161 Roma, Italy and Department of Geography, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, UK - e-mail: v.salvatori@ieaitaly.org
Henryk Okarma, Institute of Nature Conservation, Mickiewicza 33, PL-31-120 Krakow, Poland - e-mail: okarma@iop.krakow.pl
Ovidiu Ionescu, Institutul de Cerceta¡ ri s¸i Amenaja¡ri Silvice (ICAS), Sos Stefanesti 128, Sector 2, RO-72904 Bucharest, 11-04 Romania - e-mail: wildcarp@deltanet.ro
Yaroslav Dovhanych, Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, Rakhiv, P.O. Box 8, UA-90 600 Ukraine - e-mail: ecoclub@rakhiv.ukrtel.net
Slavomir Find'o, Carpathian Wildlife Society, Tulska 29, SK-960 01 Zvolen, Slovakia - e-mail: sfindo@pobox.sk
Luigi Boitani, Department of Human and Animal Biology, University of Rome 'La Sapienza', Viale dell’Università 32, IT-00185 Roma, Italy - e-mail: luigi.boitani@uniroma1.it
Corresponding author: Valeria Salvatori
Received 21 November 2001, accepted 28 January 2002
Associate Editor: Jon E. Swenson