Testing a conservation compromise: No evidence that public wolf hunting in Slovakia reduced livestock losses

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62156489%3A43410%2F24%3A43924249" target="_blank" >RIV/62156489:43410/24:43924249 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12994" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12994</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/conl.12994" target="_blank" >10.1111/conl.12994</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Testing a conservation compromise: No evidence that public wolf hunting in Slovakia reduced livestock losses

Original language description

Variation in the legal status and management of wolves (Canis lupus) across EU Member States provides a good opportunity to test the effectiveness of different practices to reduce livestock losses. This opportunity for testing is particularly useful for lethal interventions, as they are among the most controversial actions within the large carnivore management toolbox. We aimed to test a conservation compromise adopted in Slovakia, based on a public wolf-hunting scheme and annual hunting quotas between 2014 and 2019, and partially justified to reduce livestock losses. We assessed whether this hunting scheme influenced livestock depredation levels (at the district level). Wolves in the area fed mainly on wild ungulates (98.9% of consumed biomass). While domestic sheep comprised only 0.5% of the diet, they were dominant among the reported livestock killed by wolves (91.1%). Using two different approaches, we did not observe a relationship between the number of killed wolves and livestock losses. Alternatively, a negative relationship between wild prey biomass and livestock losses was found. Since 2021, public wolf hunting has not been conducted in Slovakia, and there is no merit in the previous justification for this conservation compromise to reduce livestock losses.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Conservation Letters

ISSN

1755-263X

e-ISSN

1755-263X

Volume of the periodical

17

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

8

Pages from-to

"e12994"

UT code for WoS article

001107057000001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85177043560