Last year’s monitoring data shows that there are about 150 bears living in Latvia, and their number is on the increase, reported Latvian Radio April 23.
The number of lynxes and wolves is also increasing, and as a result, they are increasingly being spotted by people, said Guna Bagrade and Jānis Ozoliņš, researchers at the Latvian State Forest Science Institute “Silava”.
To find out how bears are doing in Latvia, the first steps in annual bear monitoring have begun this spring including the use of sensor-operated cameras.
“The bears are awake, that’s clear. So far, we’ve only seen the presence of bears by their tracks. Two weeks ago, we set up hair traps and cameras, and even then we saw tracks, and everything was very interesting. Also today, when I was walking to one of the traps, I saw a bear footprint measuring 14 centimeters,” said Bagrade.
“You could say that in half of Latvia we can detect and see bears – that’s Vidzeme, Latgale, and the Sēlija regions. Kurzeme is not yet revealing its true number of bears, but bears have been observed in Kurzeme from time to time,” Bagrade pointed out.
“The bear population in Latvia is growing and spreading further and further across Latvia. Yes, we have to take into account that the bear is an inhabitant of our forests, and there is a chance, if not to see it in person, then to see some sign of a bear, for example a footprint or excrement,” admitted Bagrade.
In addition, bears are increasingly seen near abandoned or uninhabited houses, as they are interested in both beehives and apples. However, Bagrade reminded that there is no great reason to be concerned about the possibility of meeting a bear face to face, as a bear, like any forest animal, will always be wary of humans.
“If he hears that a person is in the forest or some other strange noise, the bear will move away from this area. Of course, there are cases when the animal will react, for example, if it is a mother bear with cubs in the spring, but in general, we have a greater chance of seeing a bear in the hiding places or seeing signs of the presence of bears while walking through the forest,” Bagrade pointed out.
When asked how the unusually warm winter might have affected the bears, Bagrade said that it is still difficult to judge any changes or consequences. At the moment, it is only possible to observe that the bears went to sleep, woke up and have already gone on their way.
“After one such winter, I think we can’t judge. If the climate in Latvia continues to be like this and the winters are like this one, then we will be able to watch how animals adapt and react,” explained Bagrade.
There has been talk about lynxes and the damage they cause on various farms, but these predators are still not as noticeable in Latvia as wolves, Ozoliņš pointed out.
“Of course, there are individual cases. It should be noted that our monitoring of lynxes and wolves is based on different methods than for bears. With lynxes and wolves, what ends up in our laboratory is what hunters hunt or what gets run over on the road. We have a long line of data on these species since the late 1990s,” Ozoliņš said.
For lynxes, this data series broke in 2021, when their hunting in Latvia was suspended, but for wolves it continues to this day.
“A study of hunted individuals shows that both of these species have increased in number. It is difficult to accurately assess the number of lynxes at the moment, but the number of wolves has doubled compared to the early 2000s,” explained Ozoliņš.
In terms of the distribution of lynxes and wolves, all of Latvia is currently in a roughly equal situation, Ozoliņš pointed out, adding that only Zemgale, with its vast fields and sparse forests, is slightly less populated.
“But there is a peculiarity, and it applies not only to wolves and lynxes, that you only have to go to one seemingly isolated cluster of forests in Zemgale, and you will soon find that almost the entire mammalian fauna of Latvia lives there,” said Ozoliņš.
At the same time, Zemgale also stands out in that the agricultural sector there is more involved in crop and grain production, while livestock farming is more common in Latgale, Vidzeme and Kurzeme. Consequently, lynx and wolf damage occurs more in the eastern and western parts of Latvia, but less in the central part.
“When it comes to Europe, the situation of lynxes is worse than that of bears and wolves, because lynx populations, except perhaps in the Baltic and Balkan countries, are isolated.
“There is no exchange of individuals and genes between those micropopulations, and there is no unified lynx metapopulation in Europe. There are about 10 or 11 isolated populations. The Baltic population is one of the largest, of course. Now, after the construction of the fence with the eastern aggressor countries, perhaps some adjustments will be introduced there, but it is not known how insurmountable the fence will be for the lynx,” Ozoliņš said.
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