Helping wolves in Bulgaria

Wolf Study and Conservation Program

Balkan Wildlife Society, Bulgaria
Progress report
October 2003 - December 2003


October was new-wolf month!

On 14th of October we collected an adult male wolf called "Balkan", from the Sofia Zoo. There were two reason for taking him. First, we needed to provide Vucho with some company because we don't want him to grow up alone, without meeting any other wolves. Second, the reason we chose Balkan and no other wolf was that he was kept in not very good conditions in the zoo. He was in a small enclosure and was alone. (There are another six wolves in that zoo which are living together in a nice, big enclosure and are a real pack). Also, Balkan is quite a calm animal and he doesn't give us any problems when we go into the enclosure which we made for both him and Vucho.

Several days after we got Balkan, we released Vucho in the new enclosure. At first, they did not have any interaction, but as time passed, they had closer and closer contact.

Between the time we put the wolves together and the end of the year we had five groups of visitors (tourists or other interested people to see them) and some individuals. Special attention was paid to each group, answering all their question and explaining a lot of things about wolves and their significance in nature. We realized that many of these people had mistaken ideas before we talked to them and introduced them to Vucho but afterwards, they seemed to have changed their minds.. During the past two months we have come to realise that Vucho will play a very important role in our public awareness efforts.

Our research amongst livestock breeders still needs to be completed. After conducting some more questionnaire-based research we are going to analyse the results of the 2003 enquiries and have a look at the results, which we will then compare with the past years.

With winter on the way, the most intensive fieldwork period for the Wolf Study and Education Program is approaching. Snow-tracking is still the main method of data collection for information about the home ranges of wolf packs and the number of pack members, etc. The winters in the Western part of the Pirin mountains (where the project does the field work) are not as cold as in Kraishte area. We had the first snow at the beginning of December, but it all melted in two days. Then, just before Christmas we got the second snowfall. We almost had no Christmas holidays at all since, not knowing how long the snow would lie, we went tracking as much as we could and actually managed to follow some wolf trails. By 29th of December the snow was gone again. Now during the first days of the new year we already have really cold weather and snow.

We hope the winter will continue like this and we will be able to collect good data about wolves in our second working area (the Pirin mountains.). Snow tracking will also continue in Kraishte, with the aims of continued monitoring of the situation in the area and of planning possible trap-setting in spring.

January 2004 - March 2004

January was a snowy month in the Pirin Mountains. This helped us to do some intensive tracking and collect some good data. The winter was also good in the Kraishte area (colder and more snowy than in Pirin - but we spent less time in Kraishte).

The lower parts of the Pirin region, where wolves tend to spend more time in winter, are not the perfect place for snow tracking. Even if you have deep snow in the higher parts of the mountains, down here it only takes one mild day and the wind can simply blow most of the snow away. This was the reason for us not being able to determine exactly the home range of the first pack which we began following in Pirin. We did manage to identify a large part of its territory though - probably around half of the range is already known. We also know that this pack consisted of five members in January.

As we had expected, the results so far show that their territory is vertically orientated. Ie. Part of it is in the low mountain region and it extend upward into the higher altitudes. The main reason for the vertical nature of pack territories here is the seasonal migration as wolves follow the wild ungulates and livestock into higher pastures in summer and lower ones in winter.

We have also managed to collect many scat samples from this pack and when we have analysed them we will have a clear idea of their dietary preferences.

On several occasions, we have found wolf tracks in a different area which we presume are coming from a different pack but we are not sure yet.

We visited Kraishte three times this winter (two of the occasions were for three days each) and did some good snow tracking work. The data we got there assisted us in clarifying the home territory of one of the packs there.

During February, it snowed from time to time, hence, the tracking was a bit less intensive but at the end of the month, we could set our first trap line for the year. AT the beginning of March, we had our first wolf in a trap - but it managed to escape before we checked the traps in the morning. The fact that it was a wolf was proved by the hairs left in the trap. So, unfortunately, our first wolf didn't want to carry our radio collar ! We hope there will soon be one which will carry it.

After a lot of negotiations with its owner, we finally managed to purchase some land and an old farm building in the village of Vlahi. We plan to turn the building into a Large Carnivore Information Centre. This would be the only centre of its kind in Bulgaria and we think it will be very attractive both for schools' study and for tourists. We believe that the future of the important education work which we do for wolf conservation is to concentrate our teaching activities in this centre. The centre will be a secure, long-term base for educating people about large carnivores.

In March, we had our first try at taking Vucho (our hand-raised wolf) into schools. We visited two schools in towns around the Pirin Mountains, The visits went really well and the pupils were more than happy to see a real wolf which they could touch. He gave lots of them kisses - as young wolves do - and showed them that wolves are not evil but are just animals like any other animal. Meetings with schoolchildren will continue as this is one of Vucho's main tasks in life. He is to be a bridge between people and wildlife. However, we consider that it is much better to receive the schoolchildren in groups at Vlahi and take them for a walk with the wolf - it's better for them to see the wolf in his natural habitat. Eventually, encounters with the wolf will be combined with an educational visit to our Large Carnivore Centre.


Prepared by:
Elena Tsingarska - Sedefcheva
/project coordinator/
05. 01. 2004