STA, 13 November 2020 - Farmers reported fewer attacks on livestock by wolves and bears this year compared with 2019, with wolves causing more damage than bears. The agriculture chamber says this is a result of wolves not being regularly culled for several years now, whereas emergency hunting is not effective enough.

Bears meanwhile seem to be happy with this year's abundant food in forests, which has partly reduced conflicts with humans and their property, the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry (KGZS) has told the STA.

Nevertheless, the management of large wild animals remains very difficult, since it takes rather long to get a decision on emergency wolf and bear cull if the safety of people is not at stake, the chamber explains.

It continues to urge regular, quota-based hunting as a means of big wild animals management, adding that farmers and rural areas will pay the highest price as the country is struggling to set up a system acceptable to all.

As many as 87 fewer damage cases involving bears and 40 fewer involving wolves were reported in the January-September period compared with the same nine months in 2019.

A total of 228 cases of bear-caused damage valued at EUR 75,000 were reported this year as opposed to 315 and EUR 108,00, respectively, in the same period in 2019.

Data from the Slovenia Forest Service for wolves shows a drop from 299 to 259 cases, with the damage reported down from EUR 207,000 to EUR 126,000.

The wolves and bears most frequently attacked livestock in the heavily forested area around Kočevje in the south, and in Primorska, west, and Notranjska, south-west.

The Environment Agency, which processes the damage claims, received 447 such claims by the end of October, of which 237 were related to wolves and 210 to brown bears.

As many as 157 claims were endorsed and EUR 87,000 in damages paid out, while slightly more than 260 claims amounting to almost EUR 90,000 are still being processed.

With both wolf and brown bear being protected endangered species, several attempts to regulate their growing populations have failed due to opposition by environmentalists.

Nevertheless, wolves and bears continue to be "removed from nature", including on the basis of decisions issued by the Environment Agency.

Twelve wolves were removed this year, up five from the same period last year. This compares to a total of 20 wolves culled last year.

The figures for bears for the nine months is 99, compared with 153 in the same period last year and a total of 183 bears culled in entire 2019.

This year the government plans to start changing the 2009 strategy on the preservation and sustainable management of wolves as part of the Life WolfAlps EU project.

A strategy on bear management was meanwhile subject to public consultation this year and is expected to be adopted next year, the Environment Ministry has told the STA.

Jackal is another wild animal causing damage to farmers, mostly in SW, with 88 damage cases being reported for the nine months, up 11 from the same period in 2019.

While 197 jackals are planned to be removed from nature this year, 145 have been removed between 1 July, when the hunting season opened, and 10 November.

STA, 20 April 2020 - The Constitutional Court has repealed an emergency law ordering the culling of brown bear and wolf populations which was to remain valid until late September. Even though the cull determined by the law has already been carried out, the decision may prevent the adoption of emerging amendments that would increase the cull quota for this year.

The court has ruled that the law is in violation of Article 3 of the Constitution, which refers to the separation of powers between the three branches of government. Based on that, it did not rule on the substance of the law, said Alpe Adria Green, an environmental NGO.

The law gave permission to hunters to cull 175 bears and 11 wolves. Most of the animals have already been culled, but the NGO says the ruling would probably put a stop to an amendment to the act currently under discussion which would enforce additional culling.

A constitutional review of the bill was sought by the Legal-Informational Centre for NGOs and the Association for the Preservation of Slovenian Natural Heritage in July. The court agreed at the time that any culling should be regulated by the nature conservation act and the decree on protected wild animal species, while the culling should be ordered by the government.

After the Administrative Court annulled a number of such government decrees, parliament passed a law directly mandating the cull, a move that the Constitutional Court sees as violation of the principle of the separation of powers.

Since the legislation was to expire at the end of September, efforts to amend the act have begun. The changes, which were proposed by the National Council in February and enjoy support from the government, would expand the annual cull: 220 bears were to be killed between 1 May and 30 April 2021 and 30 wolves from May to late January 2021.

More than 30 environmental NGOs have protested against the proposal, addressing a letter to the EU Commission representation office and European Parliament office in Slovenia and urging the authorities to immediately impose a moratorium on carnivore culling in the country.

Slovenia has a thriving brown bear population that was estimated at 750-975 animals at the end of 2018 under a study conducted in the framework of the international project LIFE. Culling is a widely accepted management practice supported by researchers, but in recent years the public pressure to control the population has increased due to a growing number of human-bear conflicts.

The wolf population, meanwhile, is estimated at around 80 animals, according to a study commissioned by the Agriculture Ministry. Damage by wolves, in particular to livestock, has been increasing in recent years, but experts say culling must be very precise in order not to disturb the hierarchy of wolf packs, which may actually cause greater damage if packs are unstable.

STA, 26 February 2020 - With spring approaching, farmers in areas that have seen an influx in bear and wolf attacks in the recent years worry that letting their animals out to pasture would prove fatal despite the emergency measures taken last year to decrease the population of large carnivores in Slovenia.

Between July 2019 and the end of January, the bear population has been reduced by 172 and the wolf population by 11, nearly on target with an emergency law passed last year. Specially authorised hunters shot 161 bears and four wolves, the rest died due to other reasons.

Nonetheless, 22 attacks on sheep, cattle and horses have been reported this year so far, the Environment Ministry told the STA.

No additional culling measures are planned at this point, and large carnivores can only be shot if they pose significant threat to humans and property, and under strict rules.

What is more, the Environment Ministry must draft a new quota reasoning for bears after an environmental NGO successfully challenged the previous one in administrative court in April 2019.

The ministry told the STA that the reasoning would be based on proving that the number of conflicts continued to increase despite measures addressing cohabitation issues.

The reasoning will also have to submit scientific proof that the planned cull quota will ensure an appropriate decrease in population to lower or stop the increase in conflicts.

Last year, bears attacked 461 times and wolves 327 times. Expert estimates suggested that some 1,000 bears lived in Slovenia last year and about 80 wolves.

Now, farmers in the woody Kočevje area are worried that they will face the same problems as last year once they let their animals out to pasture this spring.

"We are afraid that wolves will kill [our sheep] and we will lose everything. Many farmers have heard wolves gathering around sheep pens already," the civil initiative Aktivna Kočevska has said in a letter addressed to Agriculture Minister Aleksandra Pivec.

They demand that the population of large carnivores be reduced to "numbers acceptable to the environment", which they believe was last the case in 1999 and 2000.

First step to this end may be made today, as the upper chamber of parliament, the National Council, discusses another emergency bill for the culling of large carnivores drafted by one of the national councillors.

All our stories about wolves are here, and those about bears are here

STA, 22 January 2020 - Slovenia has sought to convince the European Commission to loosen rules on the protection of large carnivores when populations of the animals are booming, but EU officials appear to have poured cold water on the idea at a meeting at the Environment Ministry this week.

The Brussels officials said the key goal of European policies was cohabitation with large carnivores, which means prioritising protective measures and paying out compensation in the event of livestock loss.

"The extreme measure in the event protective measures are not working is culling, provided ... that the favourable state of the population is being maintained and does not worsen," the ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.

It is the job of the state to strengthen communication and awareness raising, especially in the countryside and in areas where populations of large carnivores are growing, the EU officials were quoted as saying.

The statement came a day after the ministry organised a meeting on Tuesday featuring EU officials and the members of a national task force for the management of brown bear, wolf and lynx.

The populations of brown bear and wolf have been expanding in Slovenia in recent years, leading to push-back from locals living in affected areas and demands that culling, the principal management measure used in Slovenia, be intensified.

In 2019 just over 170 bears were culled out of a rapidly rising population that is estimated to number just under 1,000 animals, and five of the estimated 88 wolves on Slovenian territory.

But despite the extensive culling, Slovenia had sought additional loosening of EU-wide rules on protected species to make it even easier to control the population.

Environment Minister Simon Zajc thus called for a more flexible approach at an EU ministerial in December, with the argument that the specifics of each country ought to be taken into account.

The EU officials have now said that no such change is currently planned. Procedures may be initiated assuming such motions are backed by hard science, but the procedure is exceptionally long, the Environment Ministry said in a release after the meeting.

All our stories on bears in Slovenia are here

STA, 21 September 2019 - A total of 120 bears and a couple of wolves have been culled so far under the emergency law, the Slovenian Forest Service has told the STA. Hunting officials have also been granted a decree for emergency wolf culling in the Julian Alps.

Until the end of August, bears have caused damage in 210 cases, up from 96 in the same period last year. Related material damage is estimated at EUR 71,400, which is again an increase compared to last year's EUR 47,700.

Meanwhile, wolves were destructive in 240 cases (116 last year), with the damage being estimated at EUR 158,000 (EUR 71,600 in 2018).

On average, wolves slaughtered 3.6 heads of small cattle in a single attack, altogether slaughtering 756 of them so far this year. They have also attacked almost 40 heads of cattle, over 40 horses and four donkeys.

The emergency law, which came into effect at the end of June, gives hunting officials the right to cull 175 bears and 11 wolves. The culling of the latter stops if the numbers are reduced by five adult wolves.

Wolf culling comes with special requirements which the Environment Ministry relaxed in August having faced pressure by farmers and hunters. Thus the culling area was extended to cover the entire area of the pack's domain.

Culling can be carried out only in areas stipulated in the emergency law, whereas to cull in other places hunters need a special decree. But even that was made more flexible in August.

The emergency law will be in place until 30 April 2020 for bear culling and until 31 January 2020 for wolf culling, which will also take place during the whole of September 2020.

The Environment Ministry is preparing a new law, with its draft proposing culling of 175 bears and 7 wolves. The Forest Service said that the new law would not hinder the emergency law culling.

Learn about photographing brown bears in Slovenia here

STA, 16 August 2019 - Amid escalating tensions over action in response to a growing number of wolf attacks on farm animals in Slovenia, 13,462 people have signed a petition urging against the planned culling of bears and wolves.

The petition, initiated by the animal rights group AniMa, was handed to Environment Minister Simon Zajc on Friday to "have the voice of reason heard when it comes to man's coexistence with bears and wolves".

The initiator of the petition, Andreja Galinec, reported with disappointment after the meeting that "we failed to prevent the culling".

"The answer we received was that the culling will not be halted," Nevenka Lukić Rojšek of AniMa said.

According to the ministry, Minster Zajc stressed at the meeting the the emergency act on culling was "addressing the burning issue of bear and wolf overpopulation and was needed at this moment to get the numbers back to a level that is also favourable for the local human population".

Zajc also announced he would inquire with his ministerial colleagues in the EU if there was a chance of one of the European countries accepting Slovenian bears and wolves.

He added the issue of overpopulation and management of bear and wolf populations needed to be removed from the realm of politics and returned to experts as soon as possible.

Danes mi je društvo AniMa izročilo peticijo proti odstrelu. Povedal sem jim, da je ta zdaj potreben! Po tem pa vztrajam: nujno mora o strokovnih vprašanjih odločati stroka in nikoli več politika. Posebej taka, ki ni za to vprašanje naredila nič, ko je imela priložnost! pic.twitter.com/rNAwnuU5C4

— Simon Zajc (@zajc_si) August 16, 2019

The group had proposed that the government immediately issue a moratorium on the emergency act regulating the culling and form a task force to analyse the state of affairs and find solutions that would not be dictated by political pressure.

Urging long-term measures to preserve wildlife and protect farm animals, the group says that Slovenia needs to preserve its population of wild animals as a key to preserve the balance of nature.

"Hunters have been interfering too much in this balance, and the price is now being paid by farmers, who a while ago demanded the culling of deer because of the damage to their crops," they say.

Arguing that there are also those among "the 22,000 armed people considered hunters" who use hunting as "a profitable business and cruel entertainment at the expense of animals", they believe that hunting for deer should be restricted and much better controlled, while subsidies for farm animal production in wolf and bear habitats should be made conditional on preventive measures.

"We urge the government not to be held hostage by a small interest group that demands violent solutions now, without considering long-term consequences. Slovenia is us too who disagree with the culling of bears and wolves, and there are many of us," the petitioners say.

The number of wolf attacks on farm animals has more than doubled this year over the same period in 2018, after an NGO successfully challenged in court the government's 2018 decree ordering the removal of 175 bears and 11 wolves from the wild.

Data from the Institute for Forests show that nearly 680 animals had been attacked by the end of July, but the number has increased since as new attacks are reported almost on a daily basis.

To tackle the situation, parliament passed a law in June ordering an emergency culling, but while hunters have killed 75 bears, the complex rules have prevented them from culling any wolves yet.

Following a protest by farmers on Saturday, changes have been agreed to facilitate the culling.

There are an estimated 1,000 bears and 80 wolves in the country. Most of the wolves live in 14 packs, while some live alone.

While there have been two attacks by bears on humans so far this year, Miha Krofel of the Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty has told the STA that there is no confirmed case of a wolf hurting a human in Slovenia on record.

All our stories on bears are here, those on wolves are here

STA, 13 August 2019 - In the wake of severe criticism by farmers that the emergency law to cull bears and wolves does not bring results, changes facilitating a faster reduction of the wolf population were agreed at a high-profile meeting Environment Minister Simon Zajc hosted at his ministry on Tuesday.

From now on, the Forest Service and the Institute for Nature Conservation will allow that wolves are killed in the entire areas where a pack of wolves lives.

At the moment, wolf culling is limited to the meadows which domestic animals use as pastures, a rule making the culling very hard and has been challenged by hunters.

Zajc explained, speaking to the press after the meeting, the solution was in line with the emergency law, which was passed in June.

A change to the system of emergency culling of wolves was also agreed to allow the Environment Agency to initiate emergency culling whenever a farmer has reported their domestic animals were attacked.

So far, the initiative has had to come from other stakeholders, most often from the Forest Service.

Nevertheless, the Forest Service and the Institute for Nature Conservation will still have to decide whether the culling is justified.

Zajc believes the two biggest obstacles to the emergency law bringing results have been removed.

Under the emergency law, hunters can kill eleven wolves and 175 bears, with the respective populations estimated at around 1,000 and at nearly 90.

Today's meeting came after farmers urged the government at a protest on Saturday to bring the wolf population under control, arguing the new law was ineffective.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Forest Service, the Institute for Nature Conservation and the Hunters' Association, among others.

Representatives of the Farmers' Trade Union, who staged the rally on Saturday, did not attend, and Zajc rejected their call for his resignation.

He however announced new meeting for the coming months to come to agreement on how to comprehensively improve the management of wolf and bear populations.

Forest Service data shows that nearly 680 domestic animals, mostly sheep and goats, were attacked by the end of July, double the number from the same period last year.

Earlier in the day, the leader of the opposition People's Party (SLS), Marjan Podobnik, said his party would offer every hunter who kills a wolf in line with the law EUR 500.

He also criticised the rather strict provisions governing the reduction of the wolf population, saying hunters would not hunt in fear of high fines.

Podobnik explained that a wolf could only be killed if it could be proved that it had attacked animals several times.

While the attacks on domestic animals are a problems, the safety of people in rural areas is just as important, he told the press in Ljubljana.

All our stories on wolves are here, while all our stories on hunting are here

STA, 10 August 2019 - Farmers demanded a significant decrease in the country's wolf population at a rally in Velike Lašče on Saturday. They believe wolf population must be restricted to a fenced-in reserve in state-owned forests and demand preferential treatment for people living in wolf-populated areas.

Addressing the rally this morning, president of the Farmers' Trade Union Anton Medved said that the union would not agree to having to fence in the entire countryside.

"Just like farmers are obligated to prevent our animals from causing damage to neighbours, the state is obligated to take care of its wild animals, so that they will not cause damage to Slovenian farmers, said the president of the union that organised the rally.

He also said it was unacceptable that the wolf population had spread into the Alps, where a number attacks have been reported this year.

A banner spanning over the stage showed the map of Slovenia with dozens of red dots indicating the locations of attacks that happened in the past six months.

While most of the attacks happened in the southern regions of Dolenjska and Notranjska, the map also showed about a dozen attacks in the Alps of the northwestern region of Gorenjska.

Moreover, Medved demanded that the the state should recognise a lower standard of living for people living in areas with wild animal population, thus introducing tax relieves and development incentives to their benefit.

He also called on Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Simon Zajc to resign. The minister meanwhile responded by saying that the call for resignation was unfounded.

He said in a written statement that he was completely aware of the seriousness of the situation and that he expects those charged with implementing the recently passed intervention law, ordering the kill of 11 wolves, to come up with solutions to do this faster.

Medved said in his speech thta "the Farmers' Trade Union will do everything it can for the Slovenian countryside to remain cultivated, inhabited and to become safe again".

"Only this way will it be attractive for the young... and only this way will Slovenia be able to produce sufficient amounts of food to sustain it through any form of emergency situations."

Until their demands are met, the union is set on staging rallies every weekend. In a week, they will protest in Ilirska Bistrica and a week later in Gornja Radgona, where the country's biggest agricultural and food fair, AGRA, will be taking place.

The protest was also addressed by Agriculture and Food Minister Aleksandra Pivec, who said that the two relevant ministries, her's and the Environment Ministry, and the entire government were determined to tackle the situation.

She also said that these issues should not become political, but should be left to experts.

The latter, on the other hand, do not enjoy much respect among farmers, who believe that experts are at fault that the wild animal populations have reached such high numbers.

According to estimates, there are some 1,000 bears in Slovenia and nearly 90 wolves, living in 14 packs. Farmers and many hunters also believe that the number of wolves slated to be killed is too low and that the intervention act, which was passed in June summer, was ineffective because it imposed too many conditions.

The number of wolf attacks on farm animals has doubled this year over the same period in 2018. Data from the Institute for Forests show that nearly 680 animals had been attacked by the end of July.

Official data show that wolf attacked nearly 580 sheep and goats, but they also attacked larger animals: 41 horses and 34 bovine, as well as two dogs. By now, the total figure has exceeded 700, as new attacks are reported every few days.

All our stories on wolves in Slovenia are here, while bears in Slovenia are here

STA, 5 August 2019 - The Jurišče village near Pivka in south-western Slovenia saw a mass wolf attack on sheep on Sunday. The Slovenian Farmers' Trade Union has announced a protest to draw attention to the issue of such attacks becoming more frequent, saying Slovenia could not cope with the current number of wild animals.

Between 15 and 20 wolves slaughtered 12 sheep during the night and injured another 10 despite protective measures, including fencing and shepherd dogs.

A number of injured sheep will have to be put down, and one of shepherd dogs was also hurt during the attack.

Without the dogs, the attack could have been even more deadly, Florjan Peternelj of the Farmers' Trade Union told the STA on Monday.

He pointed out that Slovenia could not handle so many wild animals as there are currently in the country, highlighting the recent spike in wolf and bear attacks.

According to studies, Slovenia can cope with some 100 bears and two wolf packs at most, he said, adding that any extra animals could not survive because of a lack of food.

There are some 100 wolves in Slovenia, and the attacks have been on the rise because Administrative Court orders on culling had not been carried out due to appeals by NGOs.

An emergency bill authorising hunters to shoot 175 bears and 11 wolves was passed in parliament in June. Some bears have already been culled, but no wolves.

In the wake of these attacks becoming increasingly frequent, the trade union will organise a protest in Velike Lašče, south of Ljubljana, on Saturday.

It invites, according to Peternelj, all affected farmers and people who would like to fight for a safer countryside.

All our stories about wolves are here, and bears are here

STA, 2 August 2019 - Environment Minister Simon Zajc called for coexistence between people and wolves as he visited on Friday the Cerkljansko region, where wolf attacks on livestock have become increasingly frequent. He pointed to measures that protect humans and their property from wolves.

Two attacks occurred at the same time last Sunday, which means that two packs of wolves are currently in the region.

Hunting officials have been given the green light to cull one wolf and the minister hopes that this reduction will deter any other wolves from visiting villages and attacking.

"Our task is to enable coexistence. Coexistence means that people do not live in fear, that there are possibilities for development and that we have sufficient wolf population," the minister said.

A number of measures are necessary to meet these targets, including subsidised school transport, fencing and culling, he added.

The minister noted that there had been a spike in wolf attacks on farm animals. The increase is, according to him, a result of not carrying out Administrative Court orders on culling in the past.

Wolf is a territorial animal, which moves on when the space gets scarce. The presence of wolves in the region has been proven and the population has been expanding, he said.

The authorities have expanded their monitoring area and the Environment Ministry is working on solutions in cooperation with the Agriculture Ministry.

The minister expressed confidence that experts would set an appropriate figure for culling.

During today's visit, the minister met local mayors and civil initiative representatives as well as farmers who have been affected by the attacks.

The founder of an initiative for the removal of dangerous wild animals, Ivan Mavri, said after the meeting that the organisation demanded measures that would restore a sense of security in the region, but conceded that this would not happen overnight.

According to Mavri, the locals want this area to be completely wolf-free.

Marko Gasser, one of the people who have suffered most damage during the attacks, said that a number of locals had submitted a request to the ministry to define the areas where wolves would be allowed to hunt, excluding the Gorenjska and north Primorska regions.

According to Zajc, there are currently between 88 and 100 wolves in Slovenia.

Under the law on extraordinary culling of bears and wolves, which entered into force at the end of June, a total of 62 bears have been culled so far, and no wolves, according to the national Forest Service.

The law permits the culling of 175 bears and 11 wolves, which is more than 10% of the population of both animals in Slovenia, with the service estimating the bear population at around 1,000 and the wolf population at 100.

The most of the damage is being done by wolves, which this year attacked more than 500 domestic animals, more than double compared to the same period last year.

The Forest Service dealt with a total of 406 cases of damage done by wolves this year, with the total amount being estimated at EUR 312,000.