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.
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Links to areas to visit will appear below our list of news from the country.
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Europe is heading towards it net zero goal but electric car costs might be a stumbling block
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 …
European farmers are suggesting that wolves have recovered too much, is that true?
There is heavy pressure to end wolf protection in the EU because farmers are suggesting that they have recovered to too great a degree.
Does the wolf belong in Germany? Not according to the CSU
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 …
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Hello – I am back. Wildlife trip watching Cantabrian bears
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 …
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Should the lynx return to the wild in the UK?
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 …
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Whipsnade zoo shoots two Bears after they escape
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
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
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
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
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
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, …
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UK extinct species and imported species – Part 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 …
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