130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

and some individuals appear to have settled in the
Oder-Spree area and Oberlausitz, where the species
is reproducing [33] . Some states such as Bavaria, are
starting to implement necessary management
plans, as these populations are expected to spread
further into the country, although this expansion
may be somewhat restricted due to the small
number of available unfragmented forests [33] . In
addition to natural recolonisation, reintroductions
have been carried out in some areas such as
in Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Scotland, where
two individuals were introduced in 2008 [30, 31] .
This represented the first occurrence of the elk in
the United Kingdom for 1,000 years [30, 31] , and the
species appears to be thriving, with the first calf
born in the summer of 2011 [32] .
Despite this, there have also been negative
developments for the Eurasian elk in Europe. For
example, traffic accidents are a major issue in
Sweden, where 4,092 collisions were reported in
2005 [22] . Continuing infrastructure developments
alongside the natural expansion of the elk into
new areas could make this an increasing concern.
In addition, natural predators of the species are
making a comeback in many countries, for example
in Sweden [22] , and it remains to be seen how this
will affect elk numbers in the long-term. There is
also a fine balance to be struck between reducing
the impact on forestry through population
management, and maintaining both high genetic
diversity and fitness, and continued hunting
potential. In areas of large population size and
high density, elk may need to be actively managed
Rank Reason for change Description
1 Species management –
Adjustment of hunting
practices
2 Land/water protection
and management – Forest
management
Positive management action included the adoption
of new hunting principles, such as age- and sexspecific
harvesting of populations in Finland [24, 27] ,
Norway [23, 24] , Sweden [24] and Poland [10, 24] .
Elk number increased following changes in forestry
practises (increasing clear cuts) in Norway [23] ,
Sweden [24] , Finland [27] and Estonia [28] .
3 Legislation A hunting ban in northeastern Belarus [27] , and
temporary legal protection in Finland [24] and
Poland [24] were beneficial.
4 Other – Natural expansion The species recolonised Finland from Russia [24] ,
and small populations have formed in the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and northern Romania through
immigration from Poland and Ukraine [24] .
5 Other – Reduction of
predators
The elimination of the Grey wolf in Scandinavia [24]
has reduced predation of the elk.
6 Other – Land abandonment On a small scale, land abandonment leading to
abundant preferred browse has been beneficial in
Sweden [24] .
to prevent damage to crops and forests, whereas
in areas of decline, threats need to be addressed
through, for example, hunting bans, poaching
control and monitoring [34] . Future conservation
should also focus on maintaining viable metapopulations
by preserving local populations to allow
for sufficient exchange between them, particularly
in forested zones which have served as important
refugia in the past [26] .
Overall, Eurasian elk is thriving in the European
part of its range. It is considered Least Concern and
is not believed to face any threats at the species
level, despite intense hunting pressures in some
countries. The species has more than doubled in
abundance since the 1960s and continues to spread
into areas of its former range.
Table 3.
Major reasons for
positive change in the
status of the Eurasian
elk in Europe.
d
Figure 3.
Map of recent
developments
recorded for the
Eurasian elk in
Europe.
Y
d
^
i
i
i
i
Expansion
Persistence
Contraction
i New sighting
^ New
management
plan
Y
d
Reintroduction
Accidental
mortality
→ Direction of
further range
expansion
63