Current status, distribution, and conservation of brown bear (Ursidae) and wild canids (gray wolf, golden jackal, and red fox; Canidae) in Turkey

We have recently pulished about the conservation of brown bears and other three canid species in Turkey which provided important information about their ecology, IUCN conservation status, distribution maps and most prominent and emerging threats on these species and interactions among them.

you may reach the whole article from the link below (open access):
doi:10.3906/zoo-1507-51
http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/issues/zoo-16-40-6/zoo-40-6-12-1507-51.pdf

Authors: HÜSEYİN AMBARLI, ALPER ERTÜRK, ANIL SOYUMERT

Abstract: Turkey has viable populations of many carnivore species of the Western Palearctic. Among those, ursids and canids are represented by brown bear (Ursus arctos) and 3 canid species, gray wolf (Canis lupus), golden jackal (Canis aureus), and red fox (Vulpes vulpes), respectively. Those species occur in major ecosystems of Turkey and experience a wide range of threats, and they are at the center of human-wildlife conflicts. However, due to a limited number of studies about their ecology and taxonomy, their current distributions, population sizes, and statuses are vague. In this study, we document the 4 species' known data in terms of distribution range, population biology, phylogeography, threats and conflicts with people, and National Red List status in Turkey by reviewing the recent literature and national news about carnivores, data collection in field surveys, and interviews with local people, personnel of the Ministry of Forestry, and hunters in more than 50 provinces. Additionally, we also provide information about rabies cases in consideration with carnivore conservation. We finally recommend further studies to fill information gaps for wildlife conservation and management based on scientific evidence.

Keywords: Canis, Ursus, Vulpes, IUCN, status, Red List, conservation, human-wildlife conflict, rabies

First wildlife damage prevention booklet for Turkey (HBC studies)

We prepared the first wildlife damage prevention booklet for Turkey in  the  Kaçkar Mountains Project during 2011. It has been delivered to all Game and Wildlife Province Directors, beekeepers and their associations in province centers. We hope that it will be an useful guide in human-bear conflict (HBC) studies in Turkey.  It includes human-bear conflict studies in Kastamonu, Bartın, Bolu, Artvin, Rize provinces of Turkey and suggest practical solutions with implementation and demonstrations.

You can download the damage prevention booklet (in Turkish) by clicking the cover page at below.

Brown Bears on the Air in Artvin, Turkey

Five years passed after radio-collaring the first wild brown bear in Turkey. Such study promoted new research and findings. Our brown bear research continued in the region as a part of the Kaçkar Mountains Sustainable Forest Use and Conservation Project in Artvin. Brown bears took special attention in our wildlife studies because of intensive human-bear conflict issues and lack of scientific data in the region. Between 2007 and 2010 electric fences were introduced to the region as the most effective tool for reducing the conflict. Local awareness was increased through local and national media or press. There was lack of scientific information on the home range and habitat use of brown bears in the region. The view was that bears were not roaming around much but rather spending most of their time around villages. To understand better the ecology and movements of brown bears, we fitted bears with GPS-GSM telemetry collars.

 In 2010 and 2011, during three capture session in Yusufeli, Artvin province, we collared 7 brown bears (5 Male-2 Female) by using Aldrich foot snares. One male (11 years-old, 135 kg) was captured in May and other four (3 years-old 75 kg male, 9 years-old female 123 kg, 7 years-old female with cub of the year 85 kg, 5 years-old male 160 kg ) were captured in September. Captured bears were immobilized with a mixture of Zoletil and Medetomidine using a Dist-inject capture rifle and blow pipe. All vital rates were monitored during anesthesia.

The most interesting captured brown bear was one female with a cub of the year without her right foot. She was probably captured in a snare by a local trapper but escaped. Unfortunately a collar worn by the 11 years-old male brown bear dropped after 40 days. As results of this study, home range and habitat use data of brown bears in Turkey will be produced. This study will provide information on brown bear ecology for local and national wildlife authorities to understand human-bear conflict issues.

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank to the National Parks Province Directory of Artvin and Wildlife Division of General Directory of National Parks in Ankara for their collaboration in the Kaçkar Mountains project. I would also like to thank the veterinarian M. Akıllı and other personnel in the abattoir of Yusufeli for providing bait and technical information.
Published in I.Bear Newsletter November 2010 issue.

Marking Behavior of Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) at Power Poles and Trees in the Kaçkar Mountains Range, Artvin, Turkey

International Bear News May 2010, vol. 19 no. 2 pages 14-15


Marking behavior of brown bears poses still many unknowns. Green and Mattson (2003) suggest that the rubbing is directly related to marking behavior and that grizzly bears show no discrimination for a specific tree species whereas they do select for larger diameters. In the same study it was found that ecotones and junctions or edges of trails were proposed to be more suitable for marking. Tschanz et al. (1970) presented evidence that bears used rubbed trees for orientation, but concluded that the primary function of rubbing was communication by chemical means. Therefore it seems that rubbing is an important behavior of brown bears to mark their territory and to communicate with females before the mating season. 

Human-Brown Bear Conflict Research and Projects in the KaçkarMountains, Artvin, Northeastern Turkey

In 2001, I realized that there was "something wrong" between people and brown bears in the Kaçkar Mountains in Turkey. While I was mountain climbing around high pastures and talking with the local beekeepers there, they always complained about brown bear damage and demonstrated their local preventive measures like placing beehives 20 meters above ground on a tree or wrapping metal sheets on the tree trunks. To study the subject, I had to wait until 2003 because the site is approximately 1200 km away from the university where I study. In the summer of 2003, I was hired as a field biologist for the GEF-II project of the Directory of Nature Conservation and National Parks (NCNP) in Camili-Artvin (The first and only Biosphere Reserve in Turkey for now). I have recorded many unusual incidents like bearsgathering around hazelnut trees in a village,entering dwellings by breaking down walls, raiding beehives placed on an elevated platform by using a ladder, depredating calves in a barn, and many others. I realized that the situation that I described above as "something wrong" was called human-bear conflict.

Brown Bear Ecology and Human-Bear Conflict (HBC) Studies at Kaçkar Mountains, Artvin Turkey

My brown bear research had started in 2003 to determine brown bear habitat and conflict hotspots in Turkey. Then in 2004 I have found small grants from various organizations, such as Wildlife Conservation Society, METU etc. By these supports, I have been working in the field since 2004, recording sightings with cubs and all brown bear indicators e.g. scats, tracks and rub trees (see e.g. May issue of IBAN 2010). I have also regularly checked damage sites and obtain information from the locals about experienced wildlife damage. I usually meet with locals at least once a month at village cafes.
 

I focused on the Yusufeli district of Artvin (NE Turkey) but our project area stretches from inner Eastern Turkey (Erzurum) to the Black Sea coast (Rize) and east to the Georgian border (Borçka district of Artvin).