Romania
Romania is a country that is similar in size to the UK and is the 12th largest in Europe. Despite this, it has a wealth of wildlife, partly as a result of 35% of it being covered by the Carpathians.Â
Wolves are found throughout the Romanian Carpathians and the surrounding area consisting of about 50% of the countries area. Despite this, wolves are not easy to see on a visit.
Romania is a stronghold of bears in Europe, partly because during the Communist era, only high ranking people were allowed to hunt them. About 5000 live here, or roughly 35% of the European bear population outside Russia.
Lynx are also found throughout the Romanian Carpathians, and are thought to number about 2000
Bison were locally extinct from about the 1800, but have been reintroduced in the Tarcu Mountains (part of the Carpathian great arc and lying in the South West of the country, and currently have a population of about 105.
Â
Links to areas to visit will appear below our list of news from the country.
Â
The end of coal powered electricity generation in the UK? Where is the rest of the world on cleaning their power generation
- Tim
- September 30, 2024
The shrink in the electricity generation in the UK for coal, has been quite astounding. in 2006, coal produced 37% of the electricity for the UK, dropping to zero by 2024. Holborn Viaduct was the first coal power plant, opened in 1882 (In the early 1800s, coal was used to make town gas for lighting …...
Eu cancels nature restoration law and its needed
- Tim
- September 24, 2024
Back in march, there was plans for the EU to put into laws, that would require 20% of land and sea areas in the EU to be restored by 2030. This was postponed indefinitely, after it became clear that it would not pass. In the main, two groups withdrew their support. The first group (often …...
Electric car myths: Mike Parry spouting rubbish to Jeremy Vine – Useful as the electroheads do a good job of putting it right (if your hesitant to buy an electric car – this should help)
- Tim
- July 10, 2024
Jeremy Vine should know better. Mike Parry is an english broadcaster and journalist, I do not know how good a journalist he was, but if he had given his answers in writing for a newspaper article, he should have been fired as it is all rubbish. Look below for a list of the myths and …...
Should wolf hunting return to Western Europe?
- Tim
- March 28, 2024
Wolves still exist in large numbers in Eastern Europe, and are even doing alright in central Europe (this wolf was photographed in Slovakia). Back in the 1960s, while small populations survived in Western Europe, the wolf had been exterminated from the majority of their former habitat. There was a remnant population of around 500 in …...
Should wolves in Europe have their conservation downgraded? Are they really stable enough to be hunted again
- Tim
- March 22, 2024
The European commision has proposed downgrading the protection of wolves from their current strictly protected, but it has been suggested that this is not based on any science. A total of 9 countries (The call for a re-evaluation of the annexes of the EU Habitats Directive is included in a note put forward by Finland …...
Europe is heading towards it net zero goal but electric car costs might be a stumbling block
- Tim
- September 12, 2023
While an increasingly large number of people are switching to electric cars, there is a growing concern that this change is not happening fast enough. Currently the EU sells 10 times more electric cars than just 6 years ago, which is impressive, so what is the concern. For many people, they believe that their next …...
Does the wolf belong in Germany? Not according to the CSU
- Tim
- May 24, 2023
The Christian Social Democrats believe that there is no place for wolves in Germany, and members of the party have called for their intentional extinction. Taking around 10% of the vote they are a small but relatively influential party – and given the way that elections work in Germany, coalitions are common. Unfortunately, coalitions will …...
Hello – I am back. Wildlife trip watching Cantabrian bears
- Tim
- June 27, 2022
Currently, we are still a small operation, so when I am away articles cease. This will change we move forwards. I have been in Spain. I drove our new electric car down and spent a few days in the Cantabrian mountains. Why the Cantabrian mountains? I visited them with my family some time ago, but …...
Should the lynx return to the wild in the UK?
- Tim
- August 18, 2021
I am always interested when one of the biggest newspapers in the country, echo a sentiment that I have been talking about in this blog. Do not worry, I have no thoughts of grandeur – there news has not been prompted by this blog. However, it is highly encouraging when someone else is saying the …...
Whipsnade zoo shoots two Bears after they escape
- Tim
- May 24, 2021
Whipsnade zoo had three bears. A tree trunk blew over, allowing two of them to climb into the neighbouring enclosure that contained boar.
A second attempt to introduce lynx into Northumberland is being proposed
- Tim
- February 20, 2021
The UK has been predator free (at least large predators that can threaten humans and have to regularly kill to survive) for roughly 300 years. Wolves disappeared around 300 years ago, bears are thought to have gone extinct around 1,000 years ago and lynx are thought that have gone extinct about 1,300 years ago.
Do we have a moral responsibility has humans to return wild animals that we have pushed to extinction back into former habitats
- Tim
- September 3, 2020
In most cases I would say that the answer to this is relatively simple. If we were the cause of an animal going locally extinct we should bring it back. Obviously if there is none of that species left this is impossible. In a number of species at the moment, we might not have reached …...
The death of 3 Marsican bears
- Tim
- January 23, 2019
The bear in Europe is known to be an endangered animal. In much of Western Europe the bears only survive in mountains which people use less. While in Eastern Europe in countries like Romania they exist across much of the landscape, in Western Europe they only inhabit small pockets.
Collapse of the far Eastern Steppe ecosystem and what is being done to help its recovery
- Tim
- April 24, 2018
The Eurasian Steppe is a vast grassland that stretches in the West from Romania and Ukraine all the way through much of Russia to the Far East of the Eurasian continent. In the past this huge grassland supported vast populations of ungulates (hoofed animals). The damage to the ecosystem has been most severe in the …...
Predator recovery across Europe – Part 3 – Lynx
- Tim
- March 25, 2018
The Lynx is thought to number around 10,000 individuals across Europe. There are more smaller populations that have been created following reintroduction programmes so I will not break these down in the same way. There are two species of lynx within Europe (these are significantly different animals and would likely be incapable of breeding together, …...
UK extinct species and imported species – Part 2
- Tim
- March 17, 2018
- 2
Grey squirrels- invaders These animals cause significant damage to woodland throughout the UK. They were first introduced to Henbury park in Cheshire, but have quickly spread. Being less reliant on trees than red squirrels they have done very well though it is thought that red squirrels were not doing well anyway. A great deal of …...