Volunteering talks: episode 1

Der wissenschaftliche Artikel untersucht die Auswirkungen des Wolfsmanagements in Lettland auf die Viehprädation. Die Forschung analysierte Daten von 2004 bis 2022 und stellte fest, dass sowohl die Zahl der gemeldeten Angriffe als auch der betroffenen Schafe tendenziell zunahmen. Die Studie fand keinen Hinweis darauf, dass die Wolfsjagd die Prädation verringerte; stattdessen wurde eine höhere Prädationsrate erwartet, wenn mehr Wölfe getötet wurden. Andere Faktoren wie die Schafsdichte und die Anzahl der Rothirsche hatten ebenfalls einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Anzahl der betroffenen Schafe. Die Autoren schlagen vor, dass effektivere Präventivmaßnahmen wichtiger sein könnten als die Jagd, um die Prädation zu minimieren.

Hi, my name is Lika, I am from Georgia and I am a European Solidarity Corps volunteer of European Wilderness Society for 12 months. During my volunteering, I have my personal project, for which I am travelling around Austria and have a podcast series with other volunteers from different countries and projects. We are sharing our experience about our volunteering activities and follow up opportunities, as well as German learning and try to give recommendations to other potential volunteers who are thinking to be part of volunteer community. Here you can listen first episode:

In this episode we want introduce to our three volunteers, who are gaining experience in European Wilderness Society. As you know, now is Erasmus days time and it is the perfect time to choose your next project. Listen to the episode to know how to apply for a project. Why the motivational letter is key to your success? What is a difference between Europass and classical CV? Our volunteers honestly shared about all their benefits and drawbacks. Also, they gave some useful tips and tricks to our listeners. Let's talk! If you got inspired by our podcast, you always can try yourself and apply as a volunteer on our website.

For nine months, Gintare volunteered with the European Wilderness Society as part of the IVY (Interreg Volunteer Youth) programme. As her time comes to an end, she tells us in an interview about how it was for her when she fist arrived to Tamsweg, about her favourite leisure activities and about how she learned to ski like a local in only two months. What stands out in her story is that she experienced many first times here in Austria, personally and professionally, especially because of the contrast of nature and the work environment compared to her home country Lithuania. Are you curious to hear and read more from the volunteers at the European Wilderness Society? Go to www.wilderness-diary.info to find out more about all their adventures. Are you interested to become our next volunteer? Please visit wilderness-society.org to see if there is currently a call for volunteers and make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. And while you are at it, register for our Wilderness Newsletter!  You can find more information about the International Wilderness Week, mentioned in this episode, here.

The year 2020 was an unexpected and wild year for many of us. A year that has been characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also where a lot of other things happened. Great things, that have supported the work of the European Wilderness Society and its Wilderness Advocates around the world. A year in which the European Wilderness Society adapted to new circumstances, established new alliances and cooperations with new partners, developed new communications techniques and even reduced our CO2 footprint. Followers and outreach increases with 30% As this turbulent year comes to an end, we can conclude that international online communication is more important than ever before. This year, during every weekday, the European Wilderness Society provided its followers with a new informative article. Topics ranged from Wilderness, to wildlife, our coexistence with nature, or nature conservation in general. All this information reached over 340 000 readers, a staggering 30% increase compared to 2019! Here is the list of some of the top articles that our followers read most this year: 180 hunters kill one Wolf pack in NorwayFirst bear in Germany in 16 yearsAs countries go on lockdown, nature goes wildNew study proves wolves and livestock can peacefully coexistWhere in Europe does Wilderness still exist? Putting Wilderness on the map When many countries enforced travel restrictions during the first global lockdown, the European Wilderness Society postponed all planned field activities. For example, we planned many great visits, to certify newly identified Wilderness candidates. Also, the Wilderness experts planned to visit several of the first audited Wilderness areas for a re-audit. Yet, with the travel restrictions this was not a responsible action. Therefore, the European Wilderness Society came up with an alternative to draw international attention to the beautiful Wilderness in Europe: the International Wilderness Week. International Wilderness Week What an amazing and successful 5-day International Wilderness Week it was. With almost 100 speakers from 30 different countries, and many tens of thousands of followers via Zoom and various social media, it asks for a second edition. Write it down in your calendars: 18th to 22nd October 2021 - International Wilderness Week! New projects and partnerships Throughout the year, the European Wilderness Society has worked on many ongoing as well as new exciting projects. To name a few: Seventeen great partners, under the lead of BIO AUSTRIA Niederösterreich und Wien and with support of the European Wilderness Society, started the LIFEstockProtect project started this year.In both Interreg Central Europe projects, BEECH POWER and Centralparks, interesting field visits, workshops and other activities were organisedEuropean Wilderness Society hosted a webinar-series with the Vlado Vancura Wilderness Academy.New material was produced for the 'Respect Nature' project, an initiative of the European Wilderness SocietyThe 'Clean up Synevyr' project, co-financed by EOCA, was implemented with great online and on-site activitiesA follow-up Youth Green Conference, financed by Erasmus, has kicked off In Ukraine, the European Wilderness Society organised jointly with NGO Forza and others the UzhgreenfestWebinars and new publications were presented online for the Forest biodiversity projectand much more... Also, the Interreg Volunteer Youth initiative provided us with another group of great wild volunteers! Read about their adventures on the Wilderness Diary. In support of local citizens engagement, they even organised several small-scale events. For example, the successful wildlife tracking in Slovenia together with Dinaricum in Triglav National Park. And just last week, the IVYs organised another activity, including a fun EU Nature Quiz and Christmas chit chat! Happy New Year 2021 Our team is confident that 2021 will be another great year, full with new experiences, adventures and friends. We warmly welcome your support, while we continue with our efforts to protect Europe's wildest places. We also want to especially thank our more than 200 active donors who are helping us with their ongoing contribution to protect Europe's last Wilderness and its Wildlife. Without you we would not be as successful as we are. We wish you a happy and wild new year! Anni, Gintare, Gudrun, Hanna, Iryna, Julia, Jonas, Laura, Max, Nick, Otto, Robin, Timothy and Vlado Help us protect Europe’s last Wilderness and Donate now!

Rai Südtirol TV Pro & Contra Max Rossberg joined the TV-debate from Rai Südtirol in their program ‘Pro und Contra’. The question is whether the Wolf returning to Südtirol, the Austrian and the Bavarian Alps  should be eradicated and the alps turned into a wolf-free zone. This is what the farming associations and the hunting organizations in these countries are demanding. Max Rossberg discussed this with Siegfried Rinner, the director of the Südtiroler farmers’ association. Watch the full program here. Rai Südtirol Radio Mittagsmagazin Furthermore, Max Rossberg joined the Rai Südtirol radio-show Mittagsmagazin. During the show, Max answered the various calls and questions from the listeners all demanding the eradication of the wolf in the alps. In addition, stunningly a major of an Italian village announced that he would advise his game wardens to shoot any wolf regardless of the protection status as defined in the FFH directive as well as the Italian law. Click here to listen to the show here (start at 36:40 min). Stay up to date on the Wilderness news, subscribe to our Newsletter! Subscribing, I accept the privacy rules of this site.

The traditional wisdom is “A fed bear is a dead bear”. We tend to follow the traditional research by relocating bears who approach garbage in Romania and even resort to capturing and killing bears who get close to human settlements to look for food. The believe is, that once a bear gets used to human food, he will lose his appetite for natural food sources and stop foraging naturally. Dr. Lynn Rogers and a small community in the USA has actually scientifically shown that the number of human conflict situation has decreased in an area where black bears have been hand fed by humans. The food being fed to the bears consist of nuts including pecans, hazelnuts and even peanuts. The bears are still weary of humans they do not know, the only resort to the feeding stations if the natural food resources become scarce and are not conditioned to rely solely on the feeding by humans. But why don’t you listen to Dr. Lynn Rogers himself on how he came to feed bears contrary to popular belief. http://www.metrofarm.com/assets/podcasts/2013-08-03_930d_bears.mp3