Improvement of a protection system for large carnivores

Abstract

The capacity of an environment to sustain large carnivores depends on ecological parameters such as carrying capacity and spatial requirements, as well as on the level of social acceptance of those species. Social acceptance varies depending on factors such as local conditions, economic aspects, and predator density, and often is an ultimate factor limiting population numbers of large carnivores independently of ecological conditions. Within protected areas, all basic factors, i. e. carrying and spatial capacities, and social acceptance of large carnivores, have generally higher values, thus potentially allowing for the maintenance of viable populations of those species. Unfortunately, strictly protected areas such as national parks are, in most cases, too small to fulfil that role. There is only limited potential left in Europe for further extension of national parks, even if forests with low productivity or extensive agricultural areas are considered. Existing protected areas are already surrounded by intensively managed or densely inhabited environments. An optimal solution for the problems facing large carnivores seems to be the introduction of the concept of Large Carnivore Conservation Areas, encompassing ranges trespassed on and occupied by large carnivores, as a supplementary system for already existing protected areas. A strictly protected area, such as a national park, would then serve as core zone, and the sub-optimal surroundings could be included as a buffer or a transition zone. Since such designated zones would have differing values in terms of their environmental capacity, various management options, appropriate to protected status, habitat, and economic conditions, are suggested. Such methods may facilitate the enlargement of potential ranges of large predators, facilitate their movements between their core areas, and alleviate conflicts with people thereby making possible the ultimate goal of species conservation-the creation of conditions adequate for the maintenance of a viable population.