Helping wolves in Bulgaria

Wolf Study and Conservation Program

Balkan Wildlife Society, Bulgaria
Progress report
April - June 2006

The spring of 2006 was a successful field work time for our project.

In mid April we set traps in an area of the Pirin National park where we snow-tracked the wolves during the winter several times. It was a long drive to check the traps every morning – 1.5 hours each way - we decided to do it because the place was very good, wolves were using this road a lot.

During the first week after the activation of the traps we caught … a dog. This was the dog of a person who has a resting house 5 km away, but during the night it was obviously walking long distances. It was quite aggressive so we needed to tranquilize it. Because of this, we spent about half an hour on the trap line, managing the dog which was finally released. This wasn’t good, because we left our scent there.

Despite of all this, we decided to keep the rest of the traps activated and continued the morning checks and our efforts were eventually rewarded. On 19^th of April we caught a wolf. It was a young female, most probably a yearling. It was a bit lean, but otherwise in good physical condition. She had some old wounds on her bottom and the hind legs, made most probably from other wolves biting. She might have been an omega wolf. We tranquilized her, took all the measurements and samples and put the radio-collar on. In about 50 minutes she started moving and only a few minutes later jumped into the forest below the road.

Since then we have been intensively radio-tracking the wolf and managed to collect very interesting data about the pack she is a member of. In May and June we determined the area of the den. She stayed there most of the time, probably helping with the pups’ care.

Later we found out that there really were pups born in the pack. We also identified the rendezvous site by tracking the radio-collared female. If she stays with her pack for at least a few months more, we hope we will be able to discover many interesting facts about the pack life.

At the end of April we brought the ambassador bear to Vlahi in the Pirin Mountains where we made his new enclosure near the wolves. He adapted to his new home very well.

Finally, a building company was chosen and the building work for refurbishment of the Large Carnivore Education Centre is starting at the end of August. The schedule is to put the roof on before the cold winter weather starts.

Prepared by:

Elena Tsingarska - Sedefcheva 

(In November 2005 the Anglian Wolf Society sent £10,000 to the Balkan Wildlife Society to assist with refurbishment costs. It is estimated that this is about half what will eventually be needed but this donation puts Balkani in a stronger position to secure other funding to complete the project. The money we sent them came from you, the visitors and members, the people reading this newsletter. Thank you for your support.)