Conservation of large carnivores
Legislation
All three species of large carnivores are strictly protected according to the law in the Czech Republic. The grey wolf and Brown bear are listed as critically threatened and Eurasian lynx as strongly threatened species (Act. No. 114/1992 Coll. and Implementing Degree No. 395/1992 Coll.). At the same time, they are listed as game species (Act. No. 449/2001 Coll.) not allowed to hunt. Wolf, lynx and bear are also under Europe-wide protection - being listed in Annexes II and IV of Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.
The responsible authority is Ministry of Environment and its expert body Agency for nature conservation and landscape protection (ANCLP). Management plan for wolf, bear and lynx was prepared in 2005 by ANCLP and Friends of the Earth CZ, but it has not been approved by Ministry so far.
All damages caused by large carnivores are compensated according to the law No. 115/2000 Coll.
Measures and activities
Because large carnivores are controversial and sometimes conflict species, their future depends mostly on opinions and acts of ordinary people. Public awareness, education and communication between stakeholders is needed. The number of projects has been realized mainly by NGOs. Other measures are realized in favor of protection landcape connectivity for large carnivores.
The most important issues realized by Friends of the Earth Czech Republic:
- Public awareness, media work, education programs at schools
- Voluntary wolf and lynx patrols act as a guard against poachers
- Advisory service for livestock farmers
- Communication with local stakeholders: hunters, foresters, mayors
- Field monitoring of large carnivores in the Beskydy Mts. (snow-tracking, camera trapping). More information - help with the field survey.
- Protection of important migration corridors in the eastern part of our country (participation in decision making processes, field monitoring, communication). More information: see the poster from IENE 2010 Conference.
- Cross-border cooperation with Slovakian experts on monitoring and pressure on European commission to stop legal hunting of wolves in Slovakia (see the complaint to European Commission).
Important projects of state nature conservation
- Evaluation of landscape permeability and identification of migration corridors for large carnivores (for more information see the publication Protection of landscape connectivity for large mammals).
- Lynx monitoring in Šumava and Bavarian Forest - see special website
The map of migration corridors in the Czech Republic created as an output of large mammal migration project.
