Hunting union with a new estimate of the number of bears, known where it rose the most

The Hunting Association has today published a new number of numbers the bears of the population in Slovenia. He notes that the estimate of their number for the end of 2023 is 737 bears, and the population has been increasing linearly in the last 16 years. Dr. Klemen Jerina From the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana, their current number estimates at 954.

How did they get to the rating? According to the association, its members helped collect genetic bear patterns at the end of 2023 to evaluate the number of brown bears in Slovenia. Following complex and long -lasting procedures in the laboratory and mathematical modeling, followed by laboratory analyzes, the results of the genetic count have been published today.

Two estimates: 737 and 954 bears

Samples of feces were provided by almost a thousand participants, especially hunters and foresters. In total, they collected 2863 non -invasive genetic samples in which 656 different bears (261 males and 395 females) were detected.

“Using the method of catching, marking and recurring, we assessed how many bears we have released when counting, thereby an estimate of the number of specimens at the end of 2023. This amounts to 737 bears (695-797; 95 percent CI). It is the lowest annual (autumn) assessment, which has already been deducted from all the recorded bear mortality and is valid just before the next generation of puppies.

Compared to the previous two of these counts in 2007 and 2015, we can conclude that the population has been increasing linearly in the last 16 years. The population has expanded a little since the last genetic count, which is most noticeable in the Zasavje region. We still detect only males in the alpine space, ”they wrote.

The coastal highway obstacle to the passage of bears

According to them, they find that the Genetic Samples collected that the growth of the brown bear population in the west of the country has stopped in the last ten years, as they have only managed to detect 45 different specimens (21 females and 24 males) throughout the sampling on the northwest side of the coastal highway. Of these 45 specimens, only nine specimens were detected on both sides of the highway, which suggests that the coastal highway represents an important obstacle to the passage of bears between dinarides and the Alps.

Prof. dr. Klemen Jerina He used the calculated genetic assessments from the Biotechnical Faculty of Ljubljana, together with the bearing of the bear, to predict the dynamics of the brown bear population from the implementation of the genetic count. Its calculations have shown that there are currently 954 bears in Slovenia (880-1050; 95 percent), with the largest annual number (after the puppies and the mortality that will occur throughout the year).