Newspaperarticle on Estonian bears:
Estonian brown bears head west
(AFP) – Nov 23, 2012
TALLINN — Estonia's thriving brown bear population has spread nationwide after hunters eased up in their traditional territory, an expert in the Baltic state said Friday.
"Bears have been able to expand their living range from central Estonia through to the western regions on the Baltic Sea, mainly because hunters have been avoiding killing mother bears in central Estonia," Peep Mannil, head of wildlife monitoring at the Estonian Environment Information Centre, told the daily newspaper Eesti Paevaleht.
The brown bear population of heavily forested Estonia is estimated at between 650 and 700, making it the third-largest in the European Union after Sweden's and Finland's.
The bears' traditional territory has been along Estonia's eastern border with Russia, and the centre and south of the small republic of 1.3 million people.
Hunting is strictly controlled, and since 2003 hunters have been required to fill out a detailed questionnaire on every bear shot in order to improve collection of data on the population.
As a result of the bears' spread, the number hunted has doubled from 27 in 2007 to this year's 55, according to the Estonian Environment Information Centre.
Most of Estonia's bears have already started hibernation, or are poised to.
Tracking bears' footprints in Estonian forests has become a new attraction in recent years offered by some farmers to bold tourists.
Fainter-hearted nature lovers opt to watch them online thanks to woodland webcams.
But not all Estonian farmers are happy, as honey raids by bears have hit beehives with increasing frequency in recent years.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
Source: AFP and various pages like: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-estonian-brown-west.html
Alutaguse Forest webcam 2012
- Felis silvestris
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Re: Alutaguse Forest webcam 2012
“One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals” (Mahatma Gandhi)
"You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals" (Paul McCartney)
The Aquila Pomarina Collection
"You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals" (Paul McCartney)
The Aquila Pomarina Collection
- Fleur
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- Location: Netherlands
thank you Felis for the info and Peep ( I miss him and the pigs ofcourse )
if this is the same Peep
if this is the same Peep
- Felis silvestris
- Site Admin
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- Location: Germany
I doubt that, Fleur, the Peep from the article is working for the environmental ministry in Estonia. But you are right, I miss Peep and Silvi sitting amongst the boar too! That was amazing to watch (and fearsome too).
We still can't say anything about the boar cam, though. I think it still has to be brought from the nest site to the feeding ground. But no real news yet, sorry!
We still can't say anything about the boar cam, though. I think it still has to be brought from the nest site to the feeding ground. But no real news yet, sorry!
“One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals” (Mahatma Gandhi)
"You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals" (Paul McCartney)
The Aquila Pomarina Collection
"You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals" (Paul McCartney)
The Aquila Pomarina Collection
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 20759
- Joined: September 20th, 2008, 1:40 am
- Location: Winchester, UK
Wild Boar cam is open for another fun and interesting season
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=533&p=187917#p187917
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=533&p=187917#p187917
- asteria
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- Joined: February 6th, 2009, 9:37 am
- Location: Sunny Beach, Bulgaria
No food, no animals yet but soo much snow.
- Kitty KCMO
- Registered user
- Posts: 5717
- Joined: July 22nd, 2010, 10:05 pm
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Thank you so much to all who made the Bear Cam available to us. We saw some amazing things there during the season. I look forward to all the bear activity again next year!
Kitty KCMO