Trap cameras in the Biogradska gora National Park recorded the presence of the first bear this year in the area of this park two days ago.
According to the first estimates of experts, it is not the bear Nikola that was caught and marked with a collar in 2017 in order to track it, but a new individual.
"Camera traps, thanks to which we are able to monitor the wildlife of the Biogradska gora National Park, were installed by our organization Parkovi Dinarid - network of protected areas of the Dinarid in cooperation with the National Parks of Montenegro in August 2016. The cameras were installed in order to detect the brown bear and other animal species in this national park," said Jelena Marojević Galić from the organization Parkovi Dinarida.
To date, two specimens of this species have been recorded on photo traps.
"Monitoring this species is quite difficult, even though it has established habits. For now, we only monitor them in locations where camera-traps have been installed, which are also temporary feeding grounds. Since we did not notice the presence of bears in the park in 2018, we are particularly pleased with this finding. and speaks in support of the thesis that during the winter period, several specimens of this species spend the winter in the park area. It is also encouraging that this is a new individual, and not the previously noticed and later marked Nikola bear".
She reminded that in October 2017, they had the first successful case of catching and marking bears in Montenegro, in the area of this park.
The specimen that was caught with the expert team of the Faculty of Biology from Belgrade was named Nikola and weighed 355 kilograms.
But since it is a capital specimen with a very wide neck, he managed to remove the collar in a short time and they are no longer able to telemetrically monitor his movements.
"Therefore, we will soon organize a new attempt to capture and mark the bear in the area of Biogradska Gora and we hope to be able to monitor its movements for a longer period of time," adds Marojević Galić.
Bears, as animals that live independently and not in groups, need a large habitat in order to move freely, feed, reproduce and find suitable places for hibernation.
That is why the protection of the brown bear, whose survival is threatened by habitat destruction and poaching, is one of the priorities, which in the future will allow park visitors through the tourist offer to experience bears live, and get to know the life of this endangered and protected wild species.
The marking of bears and their monitoring was carried out as part of the project "Bear Observation in the Biogradska Gora National Park", which is jointly implemented by Dinarida Parks - the network of protected areas of the Dinarida and WWF Adria, in cooperation with the Biogradska Gora National Park, under the auspices of the Swedish development agency SIDA.
This initiative is implemented through the four-year regional program "Protected areas for nature and people".
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