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3. The management of the bear population
in Slovenia at present
Bears culled so far:
An
overview of bears culled so far in seven hunting years (i.e. from
1st April to 31st March) during the period between 1994 and 2000
and the cull in the 2001 and 2002 calendar years, according to gender
and weight (as of 18th November 2002):
| by
gender |
|
 |
|
gender
|
male |
female |
un
known |
total
|
|
94/95*
|
19
|
20
|
2
|
41
|
|
95/96* |
23
|
8
|
1
|
32
|
|
96/97*
|
29
|
17
|
1
|
47
|
|
97/98*
|
29
|
20
|
0
|
49
|
|
98/99*
|
37
|
21
|
4
|
62
|
|
99/00*
|
33
|
23
|
0
|
56
|
|
00/01* |
38
|
21
|
0
|
59
|
|
2001**
|
33
|
20
|
2
|
55
|
|
2002**
|
68
|
39
|
1
|
108
|
|
by
weight
|
|
weight
in kg |
<100 |
101-150 |
>150 |
un
known |
|
94/95*
|
23
|
11
|
6
|
1
|
|
95/96* |
16
|
9
|
6
|
1
|
|
96/97*
|
28
|
16
|
3
|
0
|
|
97/98*
|
32
|
13
|
4
|
0
|
|
98/99*
|
29
|
20
|
9
|
4
|
|
99/00*
|
40
|
5
|
11
|
0
|
|
00/01* |
37
|
19
|
3
|
0
|
|
2001**
|
33
|
16
|
5
|
1
|
|
2002**
|
83
|
18
|
6
|
1
|
|
| *
= hunting year / ** = Calendar year |
| |
The
calendar year 2002 includes 9 bears which have also been included
in the cull of 2000/01 (1.4.2000 - 31.3.2001), but which are not
included twice in the total for the period between 1994 and 2002
the
categories "unknown" with regard to gender and weight
are the result of incomplete records maintained by hunting grounds
managers or the inability to determine gender in some cases of bear
loss
The
following can be established from the analysis of the bear cull:
It is estimated that for a number of years, if not a whole decade,
fewer bears have been culled than born; bears are more common in
areas where they were once rare, and the population density in the
core presence area has increased.
The
cull predominantly involves bears weighing up to 100 kg (64% of
all the proven cull), however, the share of the culled bears weighing
between 101 and 150 kg and above 150 kg is relatively high (36%
of the total), particularly as in the first weight category (up
to 100 kg) more than 50% of the bears culled weighed over 70 kg.
With
respect to the correlation between weight and age, it is estimated
that the natural age composition of the population is altered and
leaning towards younger and middle aged immature bears, which are
also the ones involved in conflict situations within their environments.
According
to the gender structure in the period of five years, it was males
that predominated in the cull in comparison with females (61:37%),
while 2% of bears were of unknown gender. The natural gender structure
of the population is thus likely to be considerably altered, which
is the result of the internal documents adopted by the Hunting Association
of Slovenia, protecting females with young. A
table and graph showing the reasons for the cull:
::reasons
for the cull::
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Buchtipps für Tierfreunde
