Let's Make Better Future for Grey Wolves in Bosnia & Herzegovina: Continuation of Conservation Activities

Dragana Šnjegota


Other projects

3 Aug 2015

Monitoring of Grey Wolf Population from Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Aim to Create Conservation Strategy

18 Nov 2016

The Grey Wolf Conservation in Bosnia & Herzegovina: The Next Step

2 Nov 2022

Co-Existence of Wolves and Jackals in Bosnia and Herzegovina

15 Aug 2024

Mapping the Future: Developing an Action Plan and Identifying Critical Wolf Habitats in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The main aims of current project are protection of wolves and biodiversity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and making of opportunities for coexistence between wolves and humans without consequences for any of them. Field monitoring will help us to make basic conclusions about their abundance, activities and behaviour at the specific territory. Collaboration with local community will help to obtain data about relations between wolves and livestock, but also between wolves and its natural pray. By using these data we may conclude about reasons of wolves decrease or increase at specific territory. The only way to determine genetic variability, population structure, population size and gene flow is to perform genetic analyses. Combination of different molecular markers will give us insight in real condition of any population (but also insight about population state in the past), and that's the only way to establish conservation management units and to create conservation management plan.

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Wolves from Bosnia and Herzegovina are at the central position of the large Dinaric-Balkan population which is valuable source of genetic variability for neighbouring populations but is insufficiently explored. Therefore, results of our previous and next projects are necessary for the thoroughly characterization of the mentioned Dinaric-Balkan population and creation of the wolf's conservation management plan at larger, European, level. Bosnia and Herzegovina didn`t protect wolves despite the fact that declining and structuring of their population was reported at the mentioned territory. Having in mind that wolf population wasn`t explored at the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina ever before we decided to start with conservation activities. Our activities, conducted through previous RSG projects, included field monitoring, non - invasive sampling and genetic analyses; combination of these activities is necessary for creating good conservation plan as long term conservation output. The contribution of our work goes in favour of final (genetic) characterization of grey wolf population from Bosnia and Herzegovina and creation of conservation management plan. However, it is huge and time-consuming process. Thus, we still need, through planed 5 year long lasting project, to enlarge the grey wolf monitoring- and sampling territory.

Combination of the field- and genetic monitoring will help us to genetically characterize wolves and finally we will be in possibility to identify conservation management units. As we stated in previous project, we still have to perform activities (to expand the monitoring territory, enlarge sample, perform field trips and to conduct laboratory activities) for gaining all necessary answers on the conservation questions. Our very important contribution is in raising public awareness about the need of wolves' protection, through: public lectures, field trips with students, seminars and workshops, which we performed through the past projects and will perform further - through new projects.

Project Updates

6 Nov 2018

Social media video featuring the project.

Talk show "Širom Srpske", ATV Banja Luka (31.10.2018)