STATUSAND MANAGEMENT OF THE BROWN BEAR IN EUROPE ANDREASZEDROSSER, World Wide Fundfor Nature-Austria,Ottakringer Strasse 114-16, A-1162 Wien, Postfach1, Austria BJ0RNDAHLE, Department of Zoology,Norwegian University of Science and Technology,N-7491 Trondheim,Norway JONE. SWENSON,Department of Biologyand NatureConservation, Agricultural University of Norway,Postbox 5014, N-1432 As, Norway,and NorwegianInstitute for NatureResearch, Turgasletta 2, N-7485 Trondheim,Norway, email: [email protected] NORBERTGERSTL, WWF-Austria, Ottakringer Strasse 114-16, A-1162 Wien, Postfach1, Austria Abstract:The total numberof brownbears (Ursus arctos) in Europeis presentlyabout 50,000 (about 14,000 outside Russia), within an areaof more than 2.5 million km2(800,000 km2outside Russia). About 37,500 bears are found in the northeasternEuropean population; 8,100 in the Carpathian Mountains;2,800 in the Alps-Dinaric-Pindos; 1,000 in Scandinavia;520 in the Rila-Rhodope Mountains;200 in the StaraPlanina Mountains; 50- 65 in the westernCantabrian Mountains; 40-80 in ApennineMountains; 20 in the easternCantabrian Mountains; 6 in the WesternPyrenees; 5 in the CentralPyrenees; and 4 in the southernAlps. The brownbear is eithera protectedor game species in all of the countriesdiscussed in this paper.Most countriesmanage the brownbear at the nationallevel, althoughseveral ministriesare often involved. All Europeancountries with bears within their nationalborders (except Bosnia and Herzegovinaand the YugoslavFederation) have signed the Bern Convention;almost half have prepared,or are preparing,a managementplan for brown bears. In addition,most countriesengage in monitoring,research, information dissemination, and conser- vation activities. In areas where bear range includes humansettlements, damage to livestock, orchards,and beehives occurs but, in most countries, stakeholdersare compensatedfor damage,either by the state, regional government,or hunterclubs. In 1995-96 about 1.15 million US$ was paid to compensatesuch damagethroughout Europe. Ursus 12:9-20 Key words: brown bear,Europe, population and managementstatus, Ursus arctos Brown bears originally occurred throughoutEurope, managementand conservation; the EuropeanUnion except on large islands such as Iceland,Gotland, Corsica, (EU) expandedits territoryand as more countries and Sardinia;their former occurrenceon Irelandis still joined (Austria and Sweden in 1995) and others debated (Kurten 1976, Corbets and Harris 1991). Later applied for membership,large carnivoremanage- the species disappearedfrom most areas as the human ment and conservationchanged. population grew and suitable habitat was destroyed by 3. Three re-introductionsor augmentationsof bear deforestationand agriculture.In addition,the extermina- populations (in Austria, France, and Italy) have tion of bears was often encouragedas a means of elimi- takenplace in westernEurope from 1989 to 2000. nating livestock depredation,with bounties paid by the The 2 action plans also adopteddifferent approaches. state,local authorities,or both, for killing bears.This was Servheen et al. (1999) analyzed the needs and threatsof effective because bears have a low reproductiverate and each country'sbear population separately. Swenson et al. are sensitive to high harvestrates. Eventually, the combi- (2000) used a populationbasis, stressing the need for a nation of human persecutionand habitatdestruction led continental approachand co-ordinatednational efforts. to the exterminationof bears from most of western Eu- This pan-Europeanapproach was chosen because most rope and many areas in eastern and northern Europe European brown bear populations are shared by (Swenson et al. 1995, Rauer and Gutleb 1997, neighbouringcountries. The Europeanaction plan was Breitenmoser1998). endorsedby the IUCN-Bear Specialist Group,the Inter- In this paperwe summarizepopulation status, distribu- nationalAssociation for Bear Researchand Management and tion, managementstatus of the Europeanbrown bear (IBA), and the Council of Europe.It was also published populationscovered in the Actionplan for the conserva- by the Council of Europeas an official documentwithin tion of the brown bear in Europe (Swenson et al. 2000). the legal frameworkof the Bern Convention. This action plan is complementaryto, and a refinement of, the InternationalUnion for the Conservationof Na- ture and NaturalResources (IUCN) Bears: Statussurvey METHODS and conservationaction plan (Servheenet al. 1999). The We used the following definitions: separateEuropean action plan was preparedfor several Europe includes the countries west of the borders of reasons. the former Soviet Union and Turkey,but also includes 1. Much of the data from Europe in the world-wide the Baltic countriesand Ukraine.This definition is con- plan was collected in the early 1990s and was out- sistent with that of the Large CarnivoreInitiative of Eu- dated when in 1999. published rope(Swenson et al. 2000). In an effortto presentcomplete 2. Political conditions in large parts of Europe have populationsizes, we include the bear populationsin the over the last changed rapidly decade; the war in formerSoviet Union thatare contiguouswith the popula- the former Yugoslavia ended and new countries tions we considerin this paper. were establishedwith new legal conditionsfor bear A populationconsists of the bears in an area that are 10 Ursus 12:2001 genetically isolated, totally or substantially,from other 2 nights per year. These estimates are based on the un- bearpopulations. A populationmay consist of severalsub- tested assumptionsthat 80-90% of the bear population populations.A sub-populationconsists of bearsin an area visits feeding sites duringthis periodand that no bearvis- that have male-mediatedgenetic interchangewith bears its more than one site (D. Huber,University of Zagreb, in nearby areas, but little or no contact or interchange Zagreb, Croatia,personal communication,1998). Even among females. the estimates from Scandinavia, which are based on All data were obtained by a standardquestionnaire markedto unmarkedratios of bears observedin 2 areas, mailed out to bear researchersand governmentalagen- arebased on an extrapolationto the rest of the brownbear cies dealing with bear managementin each countrywith range (Swenson et al. 1994). Given these uncertainties, bearoccurrence. We triedto obtainmore thanone answer estimatesreported here must be regardedas approximate, percountry. All respondentsto ourquestionnaire are listed but the ranking of the populationsby size is relatively in Table 1; all the informationin this paper,if not indi- accurate. cated otherwise,is based on theirresponses. We obtained data from all Europeancountries with bear populations (Table2). RESULTS We stress thatpopulation numbers are all estimatesde- rived by different methods and are not directly compa- Size and Distributionof Populations rable. Bears are notoriouslydifficult to census (Kendall NortheasternEurope (37,500 bears).-The Northeast- et al. 1992, Miller et al. 1997), and many estimates,espe- ern European population is estimated at about 37,500 cially those based on observationsfrom the public, are bears, and is thereby the largest continuousbrown bear likely overestimates(Swenson et al. 1995). Estimatesin populationin Europe. The populationis found between south-easternEurope are often derivedfrom countsmade 53?N in the southto 69?N in the northand stretchesfrom by huntersat feeding sites thatare carriedout during 1 or the Ural Mountainsin the east to the west coast of Fin- Table1. Researchersand managerscontributing data for the compilationof the EuropeanBrown Bear Action Plan, 1997-99. Union European Affiliation Country member Correspondingperson Albania No S. Pllaha State Forest Service Austria Yes N. Gerstl World Wide Fund for Nature-Austria G. Rauer Bosnia and Herzegovina No D. Huber Universityof Zagreb Bulgaria No K. Georgiev WildernessFund Croatia No D. Huber Universityof Zagreb Czech Republic No P. Koubek University of Brno Estonia No J. Randveer EstonianAgricultural University Finland Yes I. Kojola Finnish Game and FisheriesResearch Institute P. Tunkkari Universityof Oulu France Yes A. Clevenger Banff National Park P.Y. Quenette Diren Life O. Robinet Ministryof Environment Greece Yes Y. Mertzanis Arcturos Italy Yes G. Boscagli Parco Regionale SirenteVelino E. Dupre National Wildlife Institute M. Possilico Ufficio AmministrazioneForeste Demaniali Latvia No V. Pilats LatvianMammalogical Society Norway No J. Braa Directoratefor NatureManagement O.J. S0rensen North Tr0ndelagCollege Poland No H. Okarma Polish Academy of Sciences Romania No O. Ionescu Game Economy Department,National I. Micu Administrationof the Forest Slovakia No M. Kassa Slovak EnvironmentAgency Slovenia No M. Adamic Universityof Ljubljana Spain Yes J.C. Blanco Asesores T6cnicos de Medio Ambiente A. Clevenger Banff National Park E. Valero University of Leon Sweden Yes A. Bjarvall Swedish EnvironmentalProtection Agency F. Sandegren Swedish HuntersAssociation Ukraine No V. Domashlinets Ministryof EnvironmentalProtection Yugoslav Federation No M. Paunovic NaturalHistory Museum Belgrade BROWNBEARS IN EUROPE * Zedrosseret al. 11 Table2. Presentstatus (1997-98),distribution, and expected population trend of Europeanbrown bear populations (including contiguouspopulations outside these countries).The populationsare listedfrom the largestto the smallest. Population Numberof bears Country Numberof bears Distributionarea (km2) Presentstatus North-Eastern 37,500 EuropeanRussia 36,000 1,700,000