Brown bear attacks on humans : a worldwide perspective

The increasing trend of large carnivore attacks on humans not only raises human safety concerns but may also undermine large carnivore conservation efforts. Although rare, attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos are also on the rise and, although several studies have addressed this issue at local scales, information is lacking on a worldwide scale. Here, we investigated brown bear attacks (n = 664) on humans between 2000 and 2015 across most of the range inhabited by the species: North America (n = 183), Europe (n = 291), and East (n = 190). When the attacks occurred, half of the people were engaged in leisure activities and the main scenario was an encounter with a female with cubs. Attacks have increased significantly over time and were more frequent at high bear and low human population densities. There was no significant difference in the number of attacks between continents or between countries with different hunting practices. Understanding global patterns of bear attacks can help reduce dangerous encounters and, consequently, is crucial for informing wildlife managers and the public about appropriate measures to reduce this kind of conflicts in bear country.Peer reviewe

Large Carnivores of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone

During nine years observations on large carnivores of Exclusion Zone have been carried out. Species composition and the number of large predators in the Exclusion Zone correspond to the regional conditions. The presence of bears and permanent stay of the lynx in the Exclusion Zone was confirmed. Six wolf packs were counted. The use of an anthropogenically transformed areas, the shift of the daily regime of activity and characteristics of the diet are the most specific features of this animal group.Исследование крупных хищников Зоны отчуждения проводились в течение девяти лет. Установлено, что набор видов и их численность в Зоне отчуждения в целом соответствуют региональным условиям. Подтверждено присутствие на территории зоны медведя и постоянное нахождение рыси. Учтено шесть волчьих стай. Наиболее специфическими чертами данной группы животных на исследуемой территории являются следующие – использование антропогенно изменённых территорий, сдвиг в режиме суточной активности и особенности рациона питания

Brown bear research in Europe: a review of the data collected and their value for conservation

Europe is a mosaic of landscapes shaped by human presence and activity, nevertheless it still harbors ~18 000 brown bears, clustered in 10 populations. Brown bear management and conservation in Europe is carried out by national/regional governmental agencies and through the involvement of universities and research institutions, NGOs, protected areas’ administrations, and hunting associations. Due to their cultural and charismatic value, brown bears have been largely studied under various aspects of their biology, ecology, and management and much of this knowledge has been gathered through the collaboration of these various agents. Nevertheless, the data collected have been only partially used for research and published in the peer-reviewed literature and, therefore, may not be fully available to the scientific community and conservation practitioners. In addition, data collection and research efforts are often fragmented at an administrative level, and can be sparse and scattered or even lacking in some parts of the species range due to limited funding. Here we summarize the ecological data collected for the 10 brown bear populations in Europe, focusing primarily on movement, genetic, demographic, and diet data. We report the type of data collected, the methods as well as the geographic and temporal coverage of the data collection, the overall sample sizes, if the data were obtained at the population or country/regional level, what the data have been used for, and if results have been published. We use this information first to reveal the substantial amount of valuable data collected for the brown bear throughout Europe. Second, we identify existing gaps in knowledge and data collection and prioritize future efforts needed as well as areas where research funding may be more urgent. Third, we highlight the potentials for integrating the overall knowledge so far collected for improving understanding of brown bear ecology in the human-dominated European landscape and implementing more effective management and conservation planning