carnivore mari  
MANAGEMENT ACTIONS
° Management Plan
   - Realising the GIS database with persons and institutions responsible for land management
   - The Landowners Directory Committee component
° Electric fences
   - Composition of electric fences
   - Functioning principle for the electrical protection system
   - Assembling the electric fences
   - Maintaining the electric fence
   - Practical advices
   - Electric fence benefits
   - Implementing the sheepfolds electrical protection system
°Intervention Unit
   - Rehabilitation and Monitoring Centre
   - Animal Rescue Mobile Unit
° Monitoring of large carnivores & prey
   - Assessing large carnivores relative abundance using hair snares
   - Assessing large carnivores relative abundance using remote cameras
   - Assessing the large carnivores populations based on animals tracks, signs and scats
   - GPS Localization (Global Positioning System)
   - VHF Localization (Very High Frequency)
° Natura 2000

Implementing the sheepfolds electrical protection system

   A large number of attacks from large carnivores are successful due to the primitive systems of protection. Therefore, large losses of domesticated animals appear, and sometimes risks upon human lives. Losses are usually large, and this leads to poaching. Landowners mount chains with the purpose of rejecting wild-boars, but in many cases victims are the bears. The result of such actions is an increased rate for poaching animals. Proofing the benefits of these systems, both for people and animals, will surely conduct to a decreased rate of poaching and a reduced adversity regarding large carnivores.

    For this purpose in the spring of 2006 were built 5 electric fences at the following sheepfolds:
   1. Barsesti/Catinis
   2. Barsesti/Coasta
    3. Vintileasca Plai
   4. Vintilesca Furu
    5. Bahnele

   After the fences were mounted, teams of 2 persons ensured the surveillance of the protection system functioning trough weakly visits of the site and filling surveillance forms for avoiding technical problems and evaluating the success of the activity. In 2007, although some of the access roads to the Barsesti demonstrative area were repaired, the shepherds made pasturing contracts with other city-halls from the Vrancea County. In the perimeter of the Barsesti demonstrative zone were established only 2 sheepfolds (from the initial six). In the spring of 2007 was started the action of building electrical fences at sheepfolds organised in Barsesti, the rest of the protection systems being mounted at sheepfolds from Vintileasca.

   The sheepfolds that currently use electric fences are:
   1. Barsesti/Catinis
   2. Barsesti/Cabalasu
   3. Barsesti/Argintaria
   4. Vintileasca/Plai
   5. Vintilesca/Muntioru
   6. Vintileasca/Dupa Magura

   The efficiency of electric fences at the protected sheepfolds in 2006 is presented in the following table.

No.

Sheep
fold

Domes
ticated
Animals

Fence lenght
(m)

No dogs

No. animals killed by large carnivores inside the electric fence

No animals killed bylarge carnivores outside the electric fence

 

1

Bârseşti/
Cătiniş

250

150

4

0

                          3

 

2

Bârseşti/
Coasta

345

150

5

2

2

 

3

Vintileasca
Plai

276

200

5

0

2

 

4

Vintilesca Furu

174

120

4

0

0

 

5

Bahnele

244

150

3

1

4

 

 

3

11

   This data synthesis coming from teams monitoring electric fences efficiency proves that as in the anterior project the majority of the damages appears from shepherds’ inadvertence when animals are left to pasture at night outside the protection systems, or when electric fences do not work..

© 2010 APM Vrancea