Experts of the EuroNatur partner organization Milvus in Romania laid out their baits day after day for three weeks – and they were successful. On 26 March, the Romanian environmentalists managed to capture a brown bear in the Eastern Carpathians, to measure it and to equip it with a GPS identification collar.
It was a male bear which the scientists called M1. They released the bear immediately after the examination and it has strolled around the thick forests of the Eastern Carpathians ever since. The environmentalists hope to get new insights in action patterns of brown bears. Knowledge of the current geographic range and migratory routes are an important precondition for effective protection measures.
The previously unspoiled habitat of bears is now in danger. The Romanian Government is planning a highway all the way from the country’s center to the east, crossing the Eastern Carpathians. Most probably, it will be heavily travelled and thus cause a deep cut in the continuous habitat of bears and their migratory corridors. “What is crucial now is to develop concepts for alternative routes and proposals for animal bridges and other wildlife crossings”, says Gabriel Schwaderer, managing director of EuroNatur. M1’s GPS collar will provide important data for such proposals.
Read more about EuroNatur projects on the protection of brown bears in Romania!