Oikos-Onlus Institute was surprised with the brown bear population in Sarıkamış!
KuzeyDoğa Derneği and its İtalian Partner Istituto Oikos met in Sarıkamış under the scope of the Brown Bear Conservation Project. The seven-person delegation who visited Sarıkamış for information and experience sharing between Turkey and Italy about the management of brown bear population in accordance with EU policies and legislation, was really surprised with the high population of brown bears in the area. The group was amazed to see that the number of brown bears, which is not more than 30 in their country, was more in a single area and they took photos of the brown bears with which they came face to face in the garbage dump.
Brown bears are tracked through satellite collars
KuzeyDoğa Derneği is tracking brown bears through satellite collars and they share their experience in bear capturing and monitoring with their partners. Experts who gather in technical meetings work on brown bear ecology, population management and conservation. Significant data on brown bears’ use of space, movement, nutrition and sleep routines are gathered through collars put within the framework of the project.
Another important pillar of the Brown Bear Conservation Project is the prevention of human-bear conflict. In an environment where brown bears come down to the city, peasants and students are given trainings on various topics like the place and importance of of brown bears in the ecosystem and how to behave when they come face to face with a brown bear.
A bear transport cage is designed for the first time in Turkey
Both partners of the project already started to think about the projects they can conduct together in the future to carry forward the dialogue they established. The brown bear transport cages which KuzeyDoğa Derneği saw and observed in Italy will be produced in Turkey soon. The technical work on the design has already started.
For more information about the project, please visit http://civilsocietydialogue.org/project/brown-bear-conservation/