International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation Conseil International de la Chasse et de la Conservation du Gibier Internationaler Rat zur Erhaltung des Wildes und der Jagd Coexistence of Large Carnivores and Humans: Threat or Benefit? Proceedings of the International Symposium preceding the 54 th CIC General Assembly 1 May 2007, Belgrade, Serbia Title: Coexistence of Large Carnivores and Humans: Threat or Benefit? Symposium Proceedings Editors: Dr. Richard G. Potts Kristóf Hecker Published by: CIC – International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation Address: CIC – International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation Administrative Office, P.O. Box 82, H-2092 Budakeszi, Hungary Phone: +36 23 453 830, Fax: +36 23 453 832 E-mail: [email protected] , Website: www.cic-wildlife.org Recommended citation, e.g.: MILENKOVI Ć, M. (2008): Large Carnivores as Added Value – Economic, Biological and Cultural Aspects – In: POTTS , R. G. & HECKER , K. (eds.): Proceedings of the International Symposium “Coexistence of Large Carnivores and Humans: Threat or Benefit?” Belgrade, 2007, pp. 3–6. Produced in Hungary TABLE OF CONTENTS I. GENERAL STATUS Large Carnivores as Added Value – Economic, Biological and Cultural Aspects (Miroljub Milenkovi ć)........................................................................................................ 1 Public Perception of Large Carnivores: a German Survey Before and After „Bruno“ (Hilmar Frhr. von Münchhausen and Magnus J. K. Herrmann) .................................... 5 Management of Large Carnivores in Europe ( Vidar Holthe and Rolf D. Baldus )…......... 9 Conservation Status of Large Carnivores in Europe (Valeria Salvatori, Luigi Boitani, Manuela von Arx and John D. C. Linnell)…. .................................................................. 13 Man-Eaters, Witchcraft and Poison: Carnivore Problems Unsolved in East Africa (Rolf D. Baldus )………………………………………………………………………….. 23 Monitoring as Basis for Management: Stakeholders and Examples ( Juan Carlos Blanco )……………………......................................................................................... 28 II. NOTHERN , WESTERN , CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Problems of Coexistence of Humans and Large Carnivores in the Western Carpathians (Pavel Hell, Miroslav Vod ňanský and Jaroslav Slame čka )……………………………... 33 Lynxes, Wolves and Bears: Germany’s “Big 3” ( Hilmar Frhr. von Münchhausen and Magnus J. K. Herrmann)…………. ……………………………………………………… 40 Management of Large Carnivores in Switzerland ( Christoph Jäggi)……………………… 45 Bear Hunting in Europe: Possibilities and Pitfalls ( Jon E. Swenson )…...………………. 50 Status of Large Carnivore Populations in Scandinavia ( Vidar Holthe )…………….…… 57 Wolves and Politics in Finland – A Balance between Biological Facts and Socio- Economic Viewpoints ( Christian Krogell )……………………………………………… 59 The Deadly Encounters of Dogs and Wolves in Finland – Pet Dogs are at Risk Too (Juha-Pekka Ripatti )………………............................................................................. 65 Human-Wolf Coexistence in the Baltic ( Linas Bal čiauskas) ……………………………. 67 The Relationship Between Humans and Large Carnivores in Russia ( Vladimir A. Kuzyakin )………………………………………………………………………………… 73 III. SOUTHERN EUROPE Status of Large Carnivores and Conflicts in Greece ( Giorgos Giannatos and Lazaros Georgiadis )……………………………………………………….……………………… 77 Transboundary Cooperation in the Southern Balkans in Large Carnivore Conservation (Lazaros Georgiadis and Giorgos Giannatos )……………………………………..…… 85 Large Carnivore Management in Croatia ( Djuro Huber )…………….…………………. 90 Conservation and Management of Brown Bear in Slovenia ( Janez Kastelic )…………... 100 Status, Conservation and Management of Large Carnivores in Serbia ( Milan Paunovi ć, Duško Ćirovi ć and Miroljub Milenkovi ć)……………………………………………….. 111 IV. CONCLUSIONS Future of Large Carnivores in Europe – The Role of People and Hunters ( Tamás Marghescu)..................................................................... ........................................... 118 Coexistence of Large Carnivores and Humans: Threat or Benefit? (2008) pp. 1–4. Large Carnivores as added value – economic, biological and cultural aspects Miroljub Milenkovi ć Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stankovi ć Bulevar Despota Stefana 142, Belgrade, Serbia e-mail: [email protected] Abstract. There is a fundamental natural the great predators, wolf, bear or lynx; for justification for the existence of predators as well they were the top predator. There was no as of all other species on the planet. As other threat. In those ancient, forgotten times, creatures, predators have an irreplaceable when our planet hosted much fewer people biological role in authentic and modified and much more untouched nature and ecosystems. The relation of humans toward large predators has however been changing various game animals, all the greatest dramatically throughout the long history of hunters hunted without problems – humans, human civilization, though not in all the wolves, lynx, and bears. Those were the communities of human society. This paper times of normal, natural coexistence among presents the key historical moments of the these most important hunters of Europe. conflict between humans and large predators, arguments for biological justification of their It is obvious that our ancestors, long before presence, and existence of still dominant the arrival of Christianity, at the time of negative attitudes of humans towards predators. pagan beliefs, cultivated quite a different It also contains the ideas how it could be mood toward the large carnivores than possible to solve at least some of the causes of the conflict between humans and certain large today. wild animals in modern conditions. The paper points out the necessity for changing both the For example, if we consider the wolf, in the theory and practice of large carnivore hunting to former complex hierarchy of gods of all deliver their permanent, appropriate, efficient ranks and for all occasions, one of the top protection and rational exploitation. gods was the god of good, “Dabog” (ŽIVAN ČEVI Ć 1951, ĐOR ĐEVI Ć 1958). Key words: large carnivores, conflict, change of According to the then existing custom, this hunting practice, rationalization of livestock “leading” god of dead and alive, the master breeding of the underworld, the international god, man’s best friend and helper and the * * * common deity, was presented in the animal form. He was exclusively presented as a We can begin by formally acknowledging lame wolf on a green horse. This good god, that large carnivores have a basic and riding on its faithful Greeny, was believed to natural right to live just as well as other be able to manage to help everybody just in creatures. time. He was the god of small livestock and its protector, main god of wolves and their The question in the title of this meeting leader (later, in the Serbian orthodox ‘threat or benefit?’ if it was somehow Christianity, the role of protector of wolves presented to our ancestors, the antediluvian was played by St. Sava). The old Slavic hunters, would probably cause much world even considered the wolf to be the confusion. In the European area, humans ancestor of all humankind. On the other were not the object of predation by any of hand, Canadian Algonquin people consider 1 Miroljub Milenkovi ć the bear to be their Great Father, while the et al . 2001). The spontaneous process of lynx in the heraldry represents sharp eyes natural immigration from the area of and an alert state, and the Polish considered southern Carpathians into northeastern this species as their ancestor. Serbia renewed the population of Carpathian lynx (L. lynx carpathicus ) in the primeval The great shift in the awareness and habitat from which it previously almost relationship between humans and large completely disappeared (MILENKOVI Ć 1985, predators started with the process of animal MIRI Ć et PAUNOVI Ć 1992, 1994, PAUNOVI Ć domestication, permanent decreases in et al . 2001). Here we should certainly living space and agriculture. In these altered mention the expected appearances and life conditions, the predators increasingly possibly re-establishment of lynx turned to livestock, and the human- populations, also by spontaneous herdsman started to consider them as big immigration, in the habitats of western pests, especially the wolf. The development Serbia. This population originated in the and increase in efficiency of modern hunting northern Carpathians and was introduced to weapons and the mass character of hunting Slovenia, where it adapted well and spread inevitably led to a reduction in the widely into many parts of Slovenia, Croatia population numbers of various game and Bosnia-Herzegovina. animals, which are at the same time the trophic base for the predators. As the most It is probably not necessary to explain the common and most efficient hunter of all biological importance of any predator in the large predators in Europe, the wolf became nature to biologists, to experienced hunters, the main unwanted competitor to the human or even to observers of nature. They all hunter. Therefore in the region of the know very well that the positive impact of Balkans the folklore for generations predators on prey populations does not have considered the wolves to be overpowering an alternative, and it can never be replaced beasts, and they greatly influenced the folk by man-made selection in hunting areas. life and spirit. According to one folk