Camera Traps as a Measure of Monitoring Large Carnivorous Mammals

The project “Support of nature-protected areas in Ukraine” provided the Park with camera traps and other equipment in order to develop and improve a biodiversity monitoring. The Park has a special opportunity to conduct researches using camera traps. This research is directly supported the by the Frankfurt Zoological Society, one of the long-term partners of the project.

These photo traps will be able to give a complete picture of the distribution of large carnivorous mammals such as, wolves, bears, and lynxes in the Carpathians. The monitoring of large carnivorous mammals is one of the biodiversity conservation measures within the framework of the “Convention on Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians”. The monitoring is also a component of national action plans for the conservation of lynx, bear as well as species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine. Thus, the monitoring results will be useful not only for the current management of the protected area, but also for national and international reporting.

The Park employees implemented a list of necessary measures and tasks during the winter of 2021-2022 such as creation of a GIS project on the Park’s area, overlaying a monitoring grid, and determining the number and potential locations for photo traps on the Park’s territory.

Therefore, inspectors of the Nature Protection Service and employees of the Scientific Research Department have installed 20 camera traps throughout the territory of the Park.

Thanks to the implementation of this project on the territory of the national park, we will be able to make an unprecedented contribution of Ukraine to the obligation of monitoring large carnivorous mammals within the framework of the Carpathian Convention.