Meeting in Gorenjska region about the wolf – you have voted on the topics you would like to hear more about for the next meetings

In the Gorenjska region, individual wolves started to be detected again about five years ago. In 2019, three pairs of wolves gave birth to pups in the Cerkljansko, Jelovica and Pokljuka areas, forming three packs. In 2020, the Cerkljansko pack disappeared after the wolf culls, leaving the Jelovica and Pokljuka packs, which are still present in the area today.

The return of the wolf also brings back the need to know more about the species and to find ways to live with it. Therefore, the project team from the Biotechnical Faculty organised a consultation meeting about the wolf for the general public at the end of February at the Franceta Prešeren Gymnasium in Kranj. There were more than 70 participants from organisations and institutions such as the Triglav National Park, the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry (KGZS), the Slovenian Farmers’ Union, the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation (ZRSVN), the Jezersko Municipality, the Jezersko, the Kranjska Gora and the Železniki Hunting Club, the Zasip Agrarian Community, the Association of Rural Youth of the Zgornjesavska Valley, the Dinaricum Association, forestry students, students from the Franceta Prešeren Gymnasium, and various other local residents.

Špela Planinšek from the Municipality of Kranj greeted the participants and dr. Irena Kavčič from the Biotechnical Faculty presented the LIFE WOLFALPS EU project, followed by a lecture on wolf biology by dr. Hubert Potočnik. As the Ministry cancelled its presence at the event, time was left for a presentation by Stanislav Bergant from the Slovenian Farmers’ Union, which was voted for by the participants. When registering for the meeting, some participants had already suggested topics they would like to hear more about at future meetings. Before the end of the meeting, we added a few more suggestions from the participants to this list and then they took a vote. Each participant could split three votes. We will try to cover the topics that were voted for at the next meetings:

• Protection of grazing animals and zoning of the wolf’s presence
• The impact of wolves on land cultivation and mountain pasture abandonment
• Wolf population (management, abundance management, predicting trends in wolf abundance)
• Coexistence (revitalisation of the countryside, abandoned villages and the impact of the wolf, livestock protection dogs – transitivity and responsibility in the event of an attack and the example of breeding game enclosures)

A report of the meeting will be sent to the ministry in charge – Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning and to participants who have left their contact details for this purpose.

The Mayor of Municipality Gorje, Peter Torkar, suggested organisation of a similar meeting in his municipality. Later, the Biotechnical Faculty accepted his invitation to hold a meeting in their municipality on 31 March.