Scheme to Bring Back Europes Bears, Wolves, and Lynxes
2/15/96
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BEARS, WOLVES, AND LYNXES- NEWS RELEASE
For Release 06.00 GMT Thursday 15 February, 1996
WWF in Scheme to Bring Back Europes Bears, Wolves, and Lynxes
Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature
GLAND, Switzerland--A new WWF initiative, involving 15 European countries,
ranging from Bulgaria to Portugal, is the first ever international effort
to restore Europe's beleaguered populations of large carnivores and to
dispel myths that wolves, bears, wolverines, and lynxes are dangerous and
undesirable pests.
"Our first task is to do some serious image-rebuilding," said Dr Magnus
Sylv'n, Director of WWF's Europe and Middle East Programme. "By the end of
the century, we aim to have proved to farmers and local communities that
many of their fears about animals like wolves and bears are excessive."
Their bad reputation has brought large carnivores to virtual extinction
in most western European countries. Iberian lynx numbers are now so low
that the scientific journal _Nature_ has designated it the world's most
vulnerable cat. Meanwhile, the region's already depleted wolf population is
further reduced each year by farmers and gamekeepers who destroy litters of
young cubs and shoot adults.
"There is really no need for this sort of action," added Sylv'n. "In the
past, when European farming activities were expanding, one saw the sort of
conflict between farmers and animals that one sees now in many African and
Asian countries. But now the western European agricultural scene is
changing -- particularly in the more remote, mountainous areas where these
animals have their last strongholds -- leaving more room for both people
and animals."
Another of the new initiative's priorities is to address Europe's massive
agricultural subsidy problem. For example, the Swiss government currently
pays out Fr50 million each year, just to support sheep farmers.
"Subsidies like these, which also occur in Norway, encourage irresponsible
farming," said Sylv'n. "One reason why hill farmers lose sheep is because
they buy stock using government aid, and then turn the animals out to
graze, unsupervised. You'd never get a farmer doing that with animals he'd
paid for with his own money!"
Nevertheless, the programme acknowledges that some livestock losses will
occur as large carnivore populations increase. It therefore recommends
shifting subsidies to compensate farmers who lose animals, rather than
supporting the initial purchase of stock.
more........
But livestock farmers and hunters are not the only threats to large
carnivores. Habitat loss and degradation is another major problem. WWF and
its partners hope that by directing conservation efforts towards animals
that need large, unfragmented natural areas to survive, they will help to
protect important habitat from destructive activities such as road-building
and intensive cultivation.
Another bonus: in many parts of Europe there are now too many herbivores.
The absence of large carnivores has led to population explosions of animals
such as reindeer and red deer, resulting in damage to trees and other
plants. Bringing back carnivores will redress the species balance -- a fact
which is attracting foresters to the initiative.
The initiative will initially focus on mountain regions including the
Carpathians, the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rhodope mountains, along with
alpine tundra, grasslands, and boreal forests in northern and central
Scandinavia. Properly managed, these regions could all be important
elements of the European Union's proposed Natura 2000 network of protected
areas. This network will play a crucial part in enabling animals to migrate
from countries such as Slovenia and Austria where they are relatively
numerous, to places where they are not currently found.
The Large Carnivore Initiative For Europe has been agreed by epresentatives
from 10 of the participating countries: Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany,
Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal (representing the Iberian peninsula),
Romania, and Switzerland.
WWF has, in the past, been involved in a number of localized projects
to bring back large carnivores to specific areas. For example it helped
reintroduce lynxes to the Swiss Jura mountains, and built up a population
of bears in the Lower Austrian Alps.
Ends
For more information: contact Sarah Russell on Tel: +41 22 364 9554, Fax
+41 22 364 8307 or Magnus Sylvèn on Tel: +41 22 364 9225.