DIGITALNA ARHIVA ŠUMARSKOG LISTA
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ŠUMARSKI LIST 7-8/1986 str. 107     <-- 107 -->        PDF

with an annual kill of up to 150 heads. Relatively numerous is the brown bear,
which inhabits the forest rich areas of Lika and Gorski kotar. Recently, biotelemetry
was introduced in the investigation of the bear population, which was
a reason for the organisation of the 7th International Conference on the Investigation
and Management of the Bear, held at the Plitvice Lakes National Park in
March 1986.


With regard to the larger predators, since 1974 Croatia has been enriched
with another animal species in addition to the bear and wolf. It is the lynx which
was released in Slovenia in 1973, and has since spread to Gorski kotar, Hrvatsko
primorje and Lika. As of today, on the basis of special licences issued by the
Republic Institute for Nature Protection, 51 lynxes have been shot, or caught
in other ways.


Regarding the feathered game, the capercaillie is the most threatened species.
Its number is estimated at 185 which, consequently has placed it under total
protection during recent years.


Of the small species, the pheasant, grey partridge and hare are the most
widely spread. In 1983, 47,600 hares, 169,300 pheasants and 14,800 partridges were
shot in Croatia. The existing eight breeding sites annually produce and release
into hunting grounds approximately 300,000 pheasant chicks ,20,000 mallards, 5,000
partridges and a smaller number of chickells.


In addition to members of local hunters clubs, a considerable number of
the large and small game is killed by foreign tourist hunters on the basis of the
standardized Hunting Price List. The value of the game stock on the Croatian
hunting grounds was estimated to be 5.5 billion dinars in 1985, and the export
in the same year realised 4.1 million U. S. dollars.


Eighty-eight percent of the total hunting ground in Croatia, i. e. 4,576,000 ha,
is managed by local hunters´ clubs. At the present time, 525 clubs with 71,600
members are registered. Hunters´ clubs, together with the organisations of associated
labour which manage the remaining twelve percent of the hunting area,
are members of the municipal hunters´ associations, and through them the
Hunters´ Association of Croatia (LSH). Their purpose is to carry out joint tasks
in the breeding, protection, hunting and utilization of game. The members of
the hunters´ clubs are in possession of approximately 140,000 various types of
hunting guns and, consequently, play a significant role in the reinforcement and
realization of the national defence programme and the social self-^protection
scheme. Every Yugoslav citizen who is of age can become a hunter after passing
the hunter´s examination.


Considerable funds are allocated by the hunters for the improvement of
wildlife cynology. The Law regulates that only hounds with proved innate traits
and performing ability may be used in hunting. In 1985 a total of 262 cynological
events took place in Croatia. The events included the 8th World Championship
in Hunting, held in Istria.


Organised wildlife management in Croatia has a tradition of over a hundred
years. At the end of 1881, the First Croatian Society for the Promotion of Hunting
and Fishing was founded in Zagreb, and in 1892 the Society started their newspaper
»Viestnik«, which was the forerunner of today´s »Lovački Vjesnik LSH«.