Wolves in Croatia: Protected or Endangered Species? Marija Tegovska / GreenFudge.org / April 27, 2014 Have you thought about endangered species threatened with extinction? It’s hard to be immune to all the information which we are exposed to every day regarding the extinction of certain species. Endangering nature and what it can offer not only poses a threat to animals and plants, but also to humankind. The exceptional biodiversity of flora and fauna is one of the key features of Croatian nature. Many of its representatives are at the same time both endemic, meaning they inhabit only a specific area, and relic, meaning that the rare remains of the ancient living world, which is often mostly extinct. A fifth of mammals, one third of amphibians and more than two-thirds of known plants on Earth are on the brink of extinction, according to the Red List, which is published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). On the IUCN Red List are 91 species of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, plants, mollusks and other invertebrates from Croatia. According to the IUCN, wolves are included in this list. Over the past 2 years in Croatia, around 200 wolves, divided into 50 packs, have been recorded. The wolf is a protected species in Croatia. That means they cannot be disturbed, intentionally captured or kept in captivity, bred, injured, killed or traded. The destruction of their habitat is also prohibited. The penalty for slain wolf is 40 thousand Kuna, or €5,250 . Wolves in Croatia face the daily threat of becoming extinct forever. Unfortunately, a number of activities, such as deforestation and harvesting, lead to a continuous reduction in the number of wolves. Wolves are killed for other reasons, which do not have much to do with man directly. In their natural habitat many of them are destroyed due to disease, lack of food or fights with other wolves. However, even if it may appear that humanity has no influence, our actions endanger wolves in several ways. The impact that man has on the slow vanishing of the wolves can be classified into three categories. First, a direct impact: setting traps, legal and illegal hunting and the spread of infection. The second category includes the impact on habitat due to the construction of highways, deforestation and pollution. The third category is the impact that humans have on the prey of wolves, mostly through poaching. Therefore, legal and illegal hunting are the main causes of direct human impact on the wolf population, but this should not diminish the impact of poisoning or taking animals from the wild and keeping them in captivity, resulting in a loss of natural populations. Due to the nature of the relationship between man and wolf, the wolf is one of the most endangered species in Europe. In Western Europe, wolves are almost is completely extinct. Croatia is one of the few areas in Europe where the wolf is still preserved. The presence of wolves and other large carnivores is a sign of natural resources in a given country. This is one more reason why we need to constantly consider the protection of this species, so that in the future wolves will be still part of the natural beauty of Croatia.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 17:53:35 +0000
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