Owing to the way in which brown bears were handled in Slovenia in the past, Posavje Hunting Management Area (HMA) is the area which bears are starting to inhabit. The main goal of this thesis is to evaluate the present distribution of the brown bear in Posavje HMA and to judge suitability of the established collection of data on the brown bear presence. It has been found out that the system of data collection is incomplete, that is why data collection which would include as well as educate the public has been proposed. In Posavje HMA all the available data on the signs of the presence of the brown bear has been collected. The research work has focused on reliable signs of presence, including direct observations, footprints, hairs, excrement and the brown bear's dens that have been found in the area. For all these signs the year and place of observation, the number of observations, the name of the observer,the estimated age and weight where possible were defined, and besides that the available photo documentation was collected. The results show that the spatial distribution and frequency of appearances of the brown bear in Posavje HMA have increased in the last twenty years, especially in the last ten years. The number of encounters and conflicts between people and the brown bear have also increased. In Posavje HMA the highest number of signs of presence was collected in the southern part of the area, in Gorjanci area. Smaller but an important area of the brown bear presence is the northern part of Posavje HMA, which is covered by forest complexes of Bohor.
|
