Today, The Karoo Predator Project attended a webinar on large carnivores in Europe (grey wolf, Eurasian lynx and brown bear) and on how sheep farmers could protect their sheep from predation. Tonu Talvi (Environmental Board of Estonia) and Valeria Salvatori (co-author of the European Commission guidance document “Guidelines for population-level management plans for large carnivores” and presenting the Italian NGO DifesAttiva), gave us some insights on large carnivores, predation and sheep protection in Estonia and Italy.
The audience was from all across Europe and beyond and all seemed to agree that livestock guarding dogs (LGDs) are a great solution against large carnivore predation when they are properly trained and cared for, and when associated with a shepherd(ess) or with electric fences. The European Wilderness Society shared an article with the participants about a shepherdess and her dogs doing great work in the Swiss Alps, have a read: http://wilderness-society.org/a-shepherdess-respected-by-wolves-on-the-swiss-ramuz-alp/
Some concerns about the emergence of the golden jackal as a potential predator of sheep were raised during the post-conference discussion, with a participant highlighting the fact that all the different stakeholders should start including the species in their activities/research.
Source of the picture: http://www.discoverwildlife.com/news/golden-jackal-european-or-not
The Karoo Predator Project 