During January and February 2024, field workers in Šumava NP focused on tracking the prey of three wolves, which were equipped with a telemetry collar in October 2023. The aim of this activity was to determine the species composition and age structure of their prey.
Over several weeks, all the clusters of points obtained from the telemetry collars, which represent the locations where the wolf stayed for a longer time, were examined. For example, resting places are recorded, but the focus is mainly on places where wolves hunted and consumed their prey.
Three collared wolves were tracked using the same methodology on both sides of the border. During 6 weeks of monitoring, 51 sites in the Šumava National Park and 106 sites in the Bavarian Forest National Park were inspected. Out of all the checked places, the prey was found in 29 places. Undoubtedly, the most common food item was red deer, the other two recorded species had almost similar representation (3x roe deer and 2x European beaver). Additional data are recorded from the places where the prey was found (age, sex of the prey, percentage of consumption) and all types of samples (jaws or skulls) are collected. All data will then be evaluated in detail.
The activity is part of the project "Ecological impacts of the return of wolves to the Šumava/Bavarian Forest Ecosystem" co-financed by the European Union - the program Interreg Bavaria - Czech Republic 2021–2027.
