The Journal is published by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Cave Administration of the Czech Republic, the Krkonoše Mts. National Park Administration, the Bohemian Forest Mts. National Park Administration, the Podyjí National Park Administration and the The Bohemian Switzerland National Park Administration. It has been published since 1946.
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Nature Conservation 2021 — 10. 6. 2021 — Nature and Landscape Management — Print article in pdf
“Presumption is our natural and original malady. The most calamitous and fragile of all creatures is man, and at the same time the proudest. He goes installing himself in his imagination that he makes himself God´s equal, that he ascribes himself divine attributes, that he winnows himself and separate himself from the mass of other creatures, determines the share allowed the animals, his colleagues of faculties and powers as seem good to him.”
(Montaigne, An Apology for Raymond Sebond).
Extermination of the wolf in the Czech lands and Moravia
Before the mid-18th century, Grey wolf (Canis lupus) numbers had dramatically declined and during the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Bohemia (1740–1780), wolves were rare. In 1747 the last wolf in the Novohradské hory Mts. was killed, in 1750 the last wolf in the Brdy Hills, and in 1756 the last two wolves in the Dominion of Vimperk. In Bohemia, wolves survived for the longest time in the Dominion of Krumlov, namely by 1795, thanks to its remotness.
In the 19th century, wolves were only exceptionally captured in Bohemia (e.g. the Doupov Hills in 1825, near the castle of Opočno in eastern Bohemia in 1837, in the Jizerské hory (Jizera Mts. in 1842 and 1866, in the Krkonoše/Giant Mts. 1861, near the town of Vimperk 1874). These were apparently often migrating animals. The last wolves in Bohemia were caught in the Šumava/Bohemian Forest Mts.in 1874 and 1891. In both cases these were also migrating animals.
The situation was different in Moravia, particularly in the Beskydy Mts., where the Grey wolf occurred much more frequently in the 19th century. There, 38 wolves were caught in 1815–1851, and after 1852 at least another three. The last historical records of hunted individuals in Moravia are known from the Kouty Forest District in the Jeseníky Mts. (1907), close to the Town of Zábřeh (1908) and finally from Červený Grúň near Jablunkov from 2014.
From the first wolf return to the present situation
The first wolf record in the Czech Republic after the World War II came from the surroundings of Staré Město pod Sněžníkem in northern Moravia in 1947. Other documented records are from Štáblovice in the Opava region (1963) and Kunčice on Mt. Kralický Sněžník (1965). During the 1970s, a strong increase in the number of records. i.e. shot animals, occurrence, observations, occurred. Migrating animals appeared in the Šumava/Bohemian Forest Mts. (1976), Krkonoše/Giant Mts. (1977), Rakovník region in Central Bohemia (1988), and the Krušné hory/Ore Mts. (2002). Observations and shot animals are known from the Hrubý Jeseník, Kralický Sněžník and the Bílé Karpaty/White Carpathians Mts.
Night shot from a camera trap. © Miroslav Kutal
Migration of individuals from the Carpathian wolf population in Slovakia and Poland has led to the situation that a group of wolves regularly has been appearing in the border area of the Beskydy Protected Landscape Area (PLA) since 1995. Their presence gave hope for the establishment of a viable, reproducing subpopulation. In 2008, the number of wolves in the Beskydy PLA was estimated at 7 animals, based on observations as well as footprints and other traces. However, in 2003–2012, based on systematic monitoring, the occurrence in the Beskydy PLA and the adjacent territory in Slovakia was assessed as extremely sporadic. Since 2012, wolves have yearly again been captured in camera trap images there.
Since 2017, several individuals have been appearing sporadically in the Bílé Karpaty/White Carpathians. In spring 2018 the occurrence of a new ‘Carpathian’ pack was documented in the Beskydy Mts. and in 2019 reproduction was confirmed for this pack. This is the first documented reproduction in the area since wolves returned there in the 1990s.
The Grey wolf´s current occurrence in the Czech Republic is mostly related to the Central European lowland population. Wolves from northeastern Poland have recolonised western Poland and eastern Germany. Since 2000 they have regularly reproduced in the area of German Lusatia, from where they have spread. The latest monitoring in the 2018/2019 season in Germany confirmed the existence of 105 wolf packs, 27 pairs and 12 territorial individuals. In 100 cases also reproduction was confirmed.
The first reports of possible wolf expansion from Upper Lusatia to the Czech Republic come from 2012, when a wolf was captured with a camera trap close to the Czech border for the first time. Credible observations also come from the Krkonoše/Giant Mts. (2011) and the Broumov region in north-eastern Bohemia (2013). There is also a record of its presence in the Ralsko region, a former military training area, from 2013. In 2014, the presence of two adults and three young wolves was documented there. Therewith the first pack of Bohemia was established and since then, its reproduction has been recorded yearly.
Female wolf in the Broumov region. © Miroslav Kutal
In autumn 2015, a wolf couple had settled in the Broumov region and produced at least two cubs already the following year. Reproduction of this pack around the Czech-Polish border has also been recorded in later years. According to images from camera traps, three wolf cubs were born in 2017 and four in 2018 there. Another area in Bohemia where occurrence of wolves has repeatedly been reported, is the Šluknov Promontory. Since 2015, wolves have also regularly been observed in the Šumava/Bohemian Forest Mts. and their foothills, Novohradské hory Mts., Český les Mts., Krušné hory/Ore Mts., České Švýcarsko/Bohemian Switzerland, Jizerské hory/Jizera Mts., Krkonoše/Giant Mts. and the Jeseníky Mts. In 2017, a pack was documented in the Šumva/Bohemian Forest Mts.´ central part. Newly, evidence of reproduction has also been found in the Šluknov region. Records of wolves have gradually been reported also from other places in the Czech Republic.
In 2018 the occurrence of wolves was confirmed in the Lužické hory /Lusatian Mts. and the České Švýcarsko/ Bohemian Switzerland NP, and reproduction in the Třeboň region (south Bohemia).
Wolf management plan as a reaction to its expansion
The return of the strictly protected Grey wolf to our region has brought a range of ambiguities and conflicts with it in the past two years. Particularly damage to domestic animals has been increasingly reported, but also concerns of the public about a possible attack by the large carnivores have been raised. A new strategy of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic titled Grey Wolf Management Programme will make way for a systematic response to the Grey wolf´s expansion in the Czech Republic. It is a set of measures aimed at reducing damage to livestock and other conflicts connected to the presence of wolves in the Czech Republic´s landscape, including a future determination of the so-called species/population favourable conservation status and a uniform procedure by the competent authorities in the case of non-standard wolf behaviour. The management plan has been prepared by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic with the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic and scientists. It has also been commented on by representatives of livestock breeders' associations, the Bohemian-Moravian Gamekeeper Association and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic. The management programme will be updated after two years.
Wolf captured with camera trap in the Krušné hory/Ore Mts. © OWAD Project
The Grey wolf is protected by European legislation, namely the EU Habitats Directive and the Bern Convention practically throughout Europe. The Management Programme does and will not change the fact. It is thus not a legislative norm but a plan of the strategic approach, the different measures of which will now be implemented by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic in collaboration with the competent State Nature Conservancy authorities as well as the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, livestock breeders' associations, hunters/gamekeepers and other stakeholders in the countryside.
The Management Programme is a strategic document which sets basic steps needed to prevent and solve conflicts with the presence and development of the wolf population. According to the Management Programme, the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic has already been working on legislative changes in the field of damages, aimed at simplifying the provision of compensations to affected entities and facilitating all related administration.
Wolf captured with camera trap in southern Bohemia. © Nature Conservation
Agency of the Czech Republic archive
The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic has been preparing documents such as specifications of effective livestock herd protection measures and guide for dealing with trouble-making wolves.
Collaboration with neighbouring states is necessary
The Management Programme also includes the task to collaborate with Germany and Poland (and with Slovakia in the Carpathian region) on the determination of the so-called favourable conservation status, i.e. a population size (and its corresponding proportion for the Czech Republic) which, when reached, gives the Czech Republic and neighbouring states the right to negotiate with the European Commission on amending the EU legislation and possibly setting wolf hunting quotas. The specific target numbers of wolves have as yet neither been set in the surrounding states (such as Saxony, where the wolf population has been developing since 2000 and the first programme was adopted in 2009). One of the few EU Member States with a specific ‘viable wolf population’ value (not a threshold) for its territory is France. However, the country has been dealing with development of the wolf population for many years and the figure is the only part of the latest, third management plan from 2018.
Concerning the setting of the favourable conservation status value from the conservation perspective, the European Commission recommends for large carnivores and their transboundary populations (see Guidelines on Population Level Management Plans for Large Carnivores) not to apply these values to the territory of the single country only (where, given the low carnivore population density, it may not even be realistic to achieve a favourable species population), but to the population as a whole. It is obvious that particularly the so-called European lowland population from which wolves have recently been spreading to the Czech Republic, shows a long-term growth, but a specific favourable population size (and its possible proportion corresponding with the area of the Czech Republic) must be determined in collaboration with neighbouring states. This figure could therefore not be incorporated into the programme, although it is a priority measure at the very beginning of its implementation. If the moment of reaching the favourable conservation status has to be an impulse for the abovementioned initiative, leading to a change in the legal status of wolf protection, it is essential that well-documented and evidence-based data not disputed by any of the involved parties are available and there is at the same time agreement, if possible, on a joint approach with neighbouring countries sharing the same population.
The programme includes measures which should react to the situation that a wolf behaves abnormally. Such behaviour must be evaluated properly, and individuals with disturbed, trouble-making behaviour posing a security risk should be removed from nature. Such an individual can only be eliminated based on an exemption according to the Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection Act (and relevant European legislation). The Management Programme requires the introduction of a detailed procedure in these cases up to the level of the implementation, in which both the State/Public Administration in nature conservation and hunting/gamekeeper authorities, i.e. specific hunting ground tenants, participate. For the determination of conditions and method of elimination of problematic wolf individuals, the basics are generally obvious (reasons and conditions for a possible exemption). It is however necessary to specify more precisely how to assess if the statutory reasons and conditions are met, i.e. specify the procedure for nature protection authorities in granting exemptions. At the same time, there also are needs to be clarified how to proceed in the case of the trouble-making individuals. There, collaboration between the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and between State Nature Conservancy authorities, hunters/gamekeepers and other specialists is essential, just like their joint understanding of legislative conditions and requirements (not only the Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection Act, but also the Hunting/Gamekeeping Act and possibly other relevant regulations) and the practical possibilities and circumstances of a solution.
Prevention of damage to livestock and compensation for such damage
The most serious problem with the occurrence of wolves in the Czech Republic´s landscape is the damage caused to livestock. The main objectives of the Grey Wolf Management Programme therefore include particularly the establishment of a functional system for the provision of financial support for the implementation of preventive measures to protect herds, and the improvement of the investigation procedure and the compensation payment for the damages caused. It is also important to provide the public with quality information on e.g. ensuring the necessary monitoring and collecting further information, and to share it with the stakeholders (State/Public Administration authorities, livestock breeders, hunters/gamekeepers).
An important issue in the programme is the mentioned financing of preventive measures. At the moment these can be funded from the Operational Programme Environment. This is however a complicated and administratively demanding instrument. Therefore, attempts should be made to set up more effective conditions to make support easily accessible to livestock breeders. Logically, the most appropriate solution would be to link them with other subvention programmes/subsidy schemes for farmers. However, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic has not yet agreed to the proposal. The matter needs to be discussed further and alternative solutions must be found.
Species management programmes are as a rule adopted for a ten-year term, but the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic counts with an update after already two years in the case of the Grey wolf. By then, several important measures should be implemented, e.g. determining the population size (so-called favourable conservation status values according to European requirements) and determining conditions for supporting the introduction of measures to protect herds in the programme period 2021–2027.
In the Western world and in the natural sciences, we have extraordinary instruments at our disposal to study animals, we have a system for their classification, and thanks to libraries and periodicals we also have a system of spreading information. However, if we want to learn more about animals, and by that I mean real knowledge, not more factual information, we have to go to the forests to observe them. (Barry Lopez, Of Wolves and Men)