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Energy, Climate change, Environment
Environment

National large carnivore management

Large carnivore livestock damages

Large carnivores come into conflict with livestock raising and this is one of the main causes of conflict related to large carnivores. Data on depredation of livestock is not easily comparable across the EU. There is no one system for collecting incidents used in all countries and the reliability of reporting depends on the compensation system in place.

Ideally in order to be able to say something about the causes of depredation, data should be available on a regional level and comparable across years. The EU Large Carnivore Platform is continuing a system of data collection put in place by the LIFE EUROLARGECARNIVORES Project to collect individual case-based data in a comparable way across the EU. Such an approach allows a fine level comparison of where incidents occur and how they vary with time.

Results from the analysis are reported in detail in Livestock depredation and large carnivores in Europe: Overview for the EU Platform and through a range of supporting qualitative case studies gathering information from different member states and regions: National and regional case studies on livestock depredation and large carnivores.

Herd of sheep grazing in an open landscape
Katrina Marsden

 

Initial results

  • First analysis indicates that while depredation increases with the geographical spread of the wolf to new areas, it does not necessarily increase with increased wolf numbers in one specific area. The relationship is complex and depends particularly on the availability of natural prey, landscape, and the use of protection measures.
  • Overall the trend is, after an initial increase, for a decrease in incidents potentially linked to protection measures being put in place.
  • Sheep were the livestock species affected most frequently (over 50% of all incidents), followed by cattle and goats.
  • Variables identified as most important for affecting the number of incidents included the types of land use (pasture and broad-leaf forest have most incidents).
  • The number of incidents also varied according to the season. Across all livestock species, incidents peaked during summer and early autumn (July – October). In the winter months, incident rates declined in northern compared to southern Europe due to livestock being housed indoors during this period.

Incident density and number of animals killed showed significant variation across the EU countries and within countries between regions.

Mapping livestock damages

Wolf depredation incident density per country across four years
EU Large Carnivore Platform Secretariat

Average wolf-caused livestock incident density (2018-2021) at country level (a) and NUTS3 level (b)

 

 

 

Map showing increasing or decreasing damage trends per country
EU Large Carnivore Platform Secretariat

Wolf-caused livestock damage trends (2018-21) at the country level (a) and NUTS3 level (b)

Preventing livestock damages

In most EU Member States funding is available to help livestock keepers protect their stock against attacks by wolves and bears. Measures to protect livestock include fencing, livestock guarding dogs and shepherding.

Resources