130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

Figure 1a.
Distribution of
Eurasian elk in 1810 [7] ,
1955 [25] and 2008 [11] .
Figure 1b. Map
highlighting areas
of range expansion,
persistence and
contraction of the
Eurasian elk in Europe
between 1955 and
2008.
increase in poaching and a reduction in the elk
population [8] . Numbers dropped to 526,000 by 2002,
after which they stabilised and eventually began
to increase [8] . At present, there are an estimated
600,000 individuals in all of Russia [8] , with 278,000
occurring in the European part (Table 2).
At around 200,000 individuals, the second
largest population of Eurasian elk occurs in Sweden
(28%, Table 2), where it has been an important
game species since the beginning of human
settlement [22] . The hunting act of 1938 established
larger game management areas with bag limits
based on abundance, and most of the country was
part of this system by 1970 [22] . The species benefitted
from habitat changes, including the clear-cutting
of forests and conversion of fields into forests and
plantations, and increases were observed in range,
abundance and hunting bag [22] . Exploitation levels
peaked at 183,000 in 1982, which represents the
largest harvest for the species in one year in any
country on record [22] . Also an important game
species in Norway and Finland, the elk has seen
near extirpations in both countries [23] . Temporary
hunting bans or legal protection provided oppor-
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