Joint press release of AOPK ČR and OWAD project
Nearby Turnov canine beast, probably a wolf, hit by a car
January 22, 2020 - The animal was found on January 22 near the I / 35 road near Turnov. The staff of the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic transported the animal for detailed examination by experts from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague."The autopsy will determine the exact cause of death - which is probably a collision with a vehicle on a busy road - and it will be subjected to genetic analysis to see if it really is a wolf and what population the animal comes from," explains Aleš Vorel from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Faculty of Environment, which is dedicated to the research of wolves within the OWAD project [1]. Other research institutes will also participate in the analysis.
Wolves migrate long distances and can run up to several tens of kilometers per night - whether moving around their territory or looking for a new one. However, the cultural landscape densely populated by people and interwoven with roads creates many barriers for them. In nature, wolves play an important role in helping to reduce the numbers of overgrown wild boar, deer and roe deer, which cause great damage in forests and fields.
“Transport is one of the essential factors that limit the movement of large mammals through our landscape. The wolf hit by car near Turnov is not the first case. Only last year, two wolves were knocked down (in February in the Czech Switzerland and in December in the Kaplice region in southern Bohemia), in 2018 again on the D10 motorway near Mladá Boleslav and the year before on the D1 motorway near Havlíčkův Brod. But not only wolves die on the roads, but also many other animal species, ”says František Pelc, Director of the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic.
“We immediately informed all interested parties about the finding. We agreed with the hunting manager of the hunting area to take the carcass for further research. We also informed the Department of the Environment of the ORP - Turnov, as the location of the finding is located outside the Bohemian Paradise Protected Landscape Area,” says Jiří Klápště from the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, Administration of the Bohemian Paradise Protected Landscape Area.
If wolves cause damage to livestock farmers, the state reimburses them. At the same time it provides subsidies for herd security. More at www.navratvlku.cz
Comment:
[1] Objective Wolves Acceptance in human-altered cross boundary lanDscapes (OWAD) was supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund under the Cross-border Cooperation Program Czech Republic - Free State of Saxony 2014-2020.The main bearer is the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (CULS), in addition to scientists from the Faculty of Environment of the CULS, the project also involves the Czech Ministry of Environment (ME) and the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic (AOPK CR). working with the public - administers, for example, the website www.navratvlku.cz, which provides up-to-date information on wolves, preventive measures for the protection of herds and the possibility of support breeders. On behalf of the German side, the project partner is the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research represented by Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz..
Contact:Karolína Šůlová, Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, e-mail: karolina.sulova@nature.cz, phone: 724 102 406