Game-propagation services

Description

The objective of the procurement is improved knowledge to reduce the conflict level connected to the wolf management. Increased knowledge is a key part of the government's conflict-reducing work in the field of predatory animal management, and the projects will help to close the knowledge gap where conflict is perceived to be particularly high. The Norwegian Environment Agency has chosen to announce 5 different sub-assignments within different topics, where there is a need for more knowledge. Tenders can be submitted for one or more sub-assignments. Deliveries in the different sub-assignments will be reports to the Norwegian Environment Agency. The number of sub-assignments are listed below and the sub-assignments' extent is indicated with a financial limit. The financial limit is a guideline and it can be redistributed based on the received tenders. The numbers of elk, deer and roe-deer in Norway have increased considerably since the 1970s and approx. 100 000 animals are slain every year. Large stocks give, however, challenges in the form of grazing damage to forests and home fields. The deer stocks in Norway are managed by the municipalities and in accordance with multi-year stock plans, with the aim of stock development and annual shooting. There is a need for increased knowledge on the effect of elk management strategies, planned shooting, slaying quotas and slain elks, compared with the effect of wolves' predation of elks in the same areas in a historical perspective. The sub-project shall highlight the consequences of the management of the elk stocks within the wolves' zone in Hedmark and equivalent wolf areas in Sweden, for example Värmland, and compare this with the development outside wolf areas in Norway and Sweden from the last part of the 1990s until today, i.e. elk stocks with and without wolves. This must also be seen in conjunction with equivalent historical forestry strategies and damage development/elk grazing damage. This sub-project shall contribute to more knowledge of injuries to dogs in wolf areas, including the use of sporting dogs in areas with wolves. The aim is to get knowledge of patterns of wolf attacks on dogs in Scandinavia and what factors can contribute to explaining injuries to dogs. The survey shall also include, amongst other things, dog owners' understanding and knowledge of wolves, adaptations to the use of dogs, for example, dogs on leads, hunting by using leads or the use of safety vests etc. Several different mechanisms influence and manage development in grazing and the distribution of grazing. A stable occurrence of wolves within the wolf zone is an important factor that has been and can continue to be, of importance for grazing in the area. The basis is that a retrospective review of changes in grazing in the period 1998-2018 within the wolf zone can give important information on what role the establishment and occurrence of wolves in the wolf zone has as regards other influencing factors that are important for grazing. The analysis can also include the occurrence of other predatory animals, but shall focus on the role the wolf has. Both direct and indirect influences shall be covered. Furthermore, the analysis shall highlight social consequences of changes in or the redistribution of grazing, including its importance for settlement patterns, operating conditions for agriculture, the influence on natural diversity, etc. Comparable analyses with trends in grazing from areas with no or few predatory animals is desirable. The analysis must include a comparison of what factors have been decisive where users within the wolf zone have stopped grazing or changed grazing, including practical, economic and political. After the return of predatory animals in Europe and other places in the world, it has become known that the species appear, to a large degree, in densely populated areas and in landscapes that have been greatly changed, divided up and exploited by people. Wolves live in such a landscape. The aim of this sub-assignment is to map how wolves in Scandinavia use different parts of their home territory as regards human settlement and activity, with examples from one or more chosen home territories. The analysis shall include actual factors that influence the wolves' choice of habitat/home territory, as well as the use of the home territory, based on, for example, flock size, ages, access to food, predation, season, snow conditions, infrastructure etc. The importance of the different factors and emigrating wolves' movements as regards human settlements, activities or infrastructure shall be included in the analysis. There can be conflicts when humans and wolves use the same areas and there are often different interpretations of the wolves' behaviour when there is contact between a wolves and humans. The analysis shall give an assessment and a description of wolves' behaviour based on proximity to humans, including what is close to wolves? This includes, amongst other things, seasonal variations and day/night variations of wolves' movements as regards human settlement and activity. Are there patterns that can explain what can be seen as normal behaviour and equivalently, what is abnormal behaviour? How do wolves react when they meet humans? Equivalently, we would like to get answers as to whether the obtained data can uncover whether the offspring of close wolves also move close to humans? Several attitude surveys have been carried out on large predatory animals, which have provided information on general attitudes and the differences between attitudes in areas close to towns and in rural areas. This sub-project shall give increased knowledge on the population's general attitude to wolves, in and outside wolf areas in Norway, including experiences of wolves, knowledge of wolves and wolf management and experiences of fear of/unease for wolves. Furthermore, the analysis shall map experience of wolf meetings in general and cases of fear in areas with wolf home territories. The aim shall be to identify the reasons for unease and fear of wolves in Scandinavia, both on an individual basis and as a collective phenomenon, in order to get better knowledge and develop measures that can contribute to reducing fear/improve mastering. What factors in individual persons and factors in physical and social environments explain the experience of fear/unease for wolves?