Title: The elk conquers the Bohemian Forest Duration: 5’20’’ Inserts: Authors: Martina Gawaz, Angelika Vogel Camera: Angelika Vogel Cut: Susanne Prengel

Petr Balda, national park Sumava

Content: Elks are conquering the Bohemian Forest. This time, it is not the wolf and not the bear who cause a little sensation as new inhabitant of the Bohemian Forest: It deals about elks, who have established themselves in that corner between the three countries Czechia, Austria and Germany. This biggest animal of the deer- species has immigrated years ago probably from the moorlands of Russia, passing Poland. In this part of the Bohemian Forest, widely abandoned by man because of the expulsion of the German people after world war II, they found a new habitat.

Not even the cold of the winter can keep him from the Vltava reservoir. Every day, Honza Kubinec waits for his prey here. When he looks at the other side of the shore he often thinks of his other big passion: mysterious creatures – the giants of the woods.

Quote Honza Kubinec (without BB) If you are really lucky, you can see them over there. But nobody can tell where they are exactly. They are not easy to track down. They must be somewhere near the church of Sveti Tomas. You have to walk about 3 kilometres on foot because you are not allowed to go by car there.

Pan over the lake, music can be chosen

They love isolation and wide lands with a lot of water. During the day, they hide in the woods of the Bohemian Forest. Almost nobody can find them there.

Elks – pictures of an open-air enclosure near the German Czech border. The first elks secretly crossed the border 50 years ago. From far Russia, via Poland to the Czech Republic. (...) Some of them have made it. They have found a new home in the Bohemian Forest and good living conditions.

Often these animals appear here, in the Czech no man’s land, where they can live in peace and quiet, an abandoned area. There are almost no traces left of the houses of the Sudeten Germans, who used to live here. Almost all German houses were pulled down. This house is still there because the Russians used it as barracks. Unlike the other German areas, nobody settled in this region, so that this unique nature resort could evolve. A perfect place for elks.

Except for Honza next to no-one ever comes to this part of the Bohemian forest. He knows the region well. He has been fascinated by elks for ten years now, from the day he first bumped into them by coincidence.

Quote Honza Kubinec (without BB) Actually, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it was: That’s a horse! A horse that is eating the leaves on the tree top. And I thought – how strange, horses do not normally do that. Then I had a closer look and realized that it was a real elk. We knew that there were elks in this region. It was wonderful, they were so close that we almost could have touched them.

Elk with music

Elks can be up to two and a half meter tall and weigh 800 kilos. They preferably live in northern countries, such as Scandinavia or Canada. However you can also find them in the fens of Russia, in eastern Poland and now even in the Czech Bavarian border region.

Three times a week, scientist of the national park Sumava (pronounced: Schumawa) go to the area where the elks are, in order to gain new insights into the lives of the Czech exotics.

Quote Petr Balda, national park Sumava We have new reasons to believe that there are two different herds with up to five elks. One of them consists of a cow, a bull elk and two calves. We observe where they come from, which tracks they use and where they go.

Petr Balda and his colleague see elks very rarely. The last time they saw one was two years ago. How long the animals have been here is unclear. Elks like migrating and walk many kilometres each day. Only their traces prove that they have recently been there.

Quote Petr Balda (without BB) Here you can clearly see traces of their bites relatively on the top. They can only stem from an elk. That’s how they look. Damage caused by browsing elks on the tree tops.

And such an elk eats at least 10-15 kilo leaves a day.

Quote Ludek Bufka, zoologist The elk has already proven that it can survive in central Europe, in areas that are similar to this area. It is common knowledge that one of the elk tracks passes the Czech Republic and leads to Hungary.

However, the construction of more and more motorways makes it ever more difficult for the elks to migrate. Even at the shore of the lake there have been construction works since the fall of the wall. The fall of the wall has left traces. A Dutch construction company is currently building a huge holiday resort for tourist and wealthy Czechs. Projects of this kind, limit the biotopes of elks.

Honza, the angler keeps us posted. The passionate elk observer keeps observing the other side of the shore in hopes that he will encounter elks again.