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Only by promoting coexistence between large carnivores and people will the bears,
lynx, and wolves have a future in Europe.
Despite a human population of over half a million, the Carpathian Mountains of
Romania, Slovakia, and the Ukraine are home to Europe's largest numbers of
carnivores, with an estimated 5,500 brown bears, 1,000 Eurasian lynx, and 2,500
wolves. The Carpathians could serve as a model for how rural communities in other
parts of Europe could coexist with wild predators.
The changing political scene in Europe has created exciting new opportunities for
the management of large carnivores. WWF's 'Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe',
launched in July 1995, brings together partner organizations and experts from 17
European countries to develop and implement plans for the recovery of brown bears,
Eurasian lynx, Iberian lynx, wolves, and wolverine.
In riverine ecosystems, beavers improve biodiversity by modifying plant communities
and changing stream flows. Although no longer killed for their pelts, recovery of
beavers in Europe has been slow, because few areas of broad river valleys with natural
forested floodplains remain. WWF needs funds for a new project to reintroduce beavers
into the Gemenc National Park, Hungary, as part of an overall effort to rehabilitate
the Danube River floodplains. The project will include monitoring beaver populations,
protecting their habitat, and working with local people.
Restoring Europe's largest wild herbivore, the European bison, to its natural range is
the goal of a new WWF initiative in Russia. Only 3,600 European bison survive, about
half in zoos, and half in small, isolated, free-living herds in Poland, Lithuania,
Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. As part of a worldwide bison conservation strategy
developed by scientists, WWF is looking for funds to create a new herd in a 1,000
km2 area near the Orlovskoe Polesie National Park,
south-west of Moscow, as well as in other areas in Europe.
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