EcoLur
The decision about wolf shooting is a fight against consequences and not reasons. This is the opinion expressed by WWF Armenia Head Karen Manvelyan. “Certainly it’s easy to understand the locals, as they suffer from wolves’ attacks, but it’s only a temporary solution: we must seek to find the reasons, otherwise we may expect heavy consequences,” he said.
Manvelyan see the violation of environmental chains and disturbance of balance between the number of predators and prey as the main reason. In Armenia the wild boar, hare and roe are prey for wolves, but their number has significantly reduced. “Only in Syunik 200 wild boars died because of African plague. Add to this poachers who shoot not only at wild boars, but also predators such as bears and leopards. Thus, natural regulation of population number is disturbed, including that of the wolf. Their habitats are getting reduced, that’s why predators come up to people,” Manvelyan says.
The consequences may be as follows: wolves will be replaced by another aggressive type of predators – jackals. Jackals can reproduce everywhere even next to farms. They are more adaptive and can survive even under those conditions where the wolves cannot.
February 15, 2011