Another brown bear has been captured and tagged in Durmitor National Park.
As announced by the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds of Montenegro (CZIP), installing a GPS/GSM collar will enable continuous monitoring of the movement and behavior of bears in order to better protect their habitat and develop strategies for the coexistence of humans and wild species.
"I am extremely satisfied with the bear capture operation in Durmitor National Park. The preparations for the capture in cooperation with CZIP were very efficient, which led to a successful capture. During anesthesia, the bear was in good condition, which enabled the taking of morphometric measurements and samples, and the placement of a collar. This operation greatly contributed to the monitoring of bears in Montenegro, and thus to the understanding of the biology, ecology and behavior of bears, which is the path towards coexistence between humans and bears in this region," said Slaven Reljić, from the Bioterra association.
The alarm on one of the traps went off at around 157:XNUMX a.m., on the first night since the traps were set. A team of experts, led by Reljić, immediately went to the field, where the presence of a bear in the trap was confirmed. It was a male, over six years old, weighing XNUMX kilograms, and in good health.
After the bear was successfully put to sleep, morphometric measurements were performed, samples were taken, and then a telemetric GPS/GSM collar was placed. During anesthesia, all vital parameters of the animal were monitored. The operation lasted about three hours and passed without complications. At around 18 pm on the same day, the first data from the collar arrived, showing that the bear had been resting deep in the forest for most of the day and had not moved much.
The capture operation was assisted by employees of the Durmitor National Park – Bojana Badnjar, Miladin Kasalica, Milić Janjić and Lazar Kaljević.
"As part of the ForestConnect project, which aims to protect and preserve biodiversity in ecological corridors, CZIP has been preparing feeding grounds for the capture and telemetric marking of individual brown bears for a long time. We have established excellent cooperation with Durmitor National Park, which was involved in the entire process," said Marija Iković from CZIP.
"We can say that the entire operation was very successful and that the bear was captured in record time, after the first night of the traps being activated. This is the second bear that has been captured as part of the ForestConnect project in Durmitor National Park. The data we obtain during monitoring will be of great use to us in understanding and learning about the ecology of the brown bear, in order to contribute to the preservation of habitats that are of great importance for its survival," said Iković.
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