The background for common integrated management of large carnivores and herbivores in the Carpathians

The Carpathians are one of the strongholds of the large carnivore (LC) and large herbivore (LH) populations in Europe and form a cross-border bioregion. In spite of the importance and key-stone role of these species, their public reputation is contradictory, resulting in non-synchronised management among neighbouring countries based on databases and management plans of uncertain quality. LCs are known as generally protected species in Europe, while LHs mainly as game species. We hypothesised that this discrepancy will lead to differences in the quality of their databases, monitoring, and planning systems in the Carpathians. Experts from six Carpathian countries answered questionnaires about those issues related to brown bear (Ursus arctos), grey wolf (Canis lupus), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). Those LCs and LHs were under total protection in 61% and 6% of the cases, respectively. No relationship was found between the protection level and the quality of population estimation or harvest data. In most cases data on harvesting exist, but their reliability is considered poor. Although there are monitoring systems for every LH species and for most of the LC species, the monitoring is mainly based on personal opinions and rarely on scientific methods. Conservation/management plans exist in about half of the countries for both groups. The protection level does not affect the quality of planning. The elaboration of a common and reliable monitoring system was identified as the most important among the necessary management measures. Among the research priorities the development of robust, reliable and repeatable monitoring methods and the elaboration of comparable management plans were considered as the most essential ones.