First helicopter-darted wolf in Southern Europe by SLU team

This is the first helicopter-darted wolf in Europe outside of Fennoscandia. It will provide major insights into the role of wolves in ecosystems.

Wolf expert Per Ahlqvist and helicopter pilot Ulf Grinde were invited in the Mercantour National Park in the French Alps to try to capture wolves. The method used by Grimsö Wildlife Research Station for the Swedish-Norwegian Wolf Project (Skandulv) to capture wolves is unique in Europe.

First, with the help of snow tracks a team on the ground localizes the wolf. Then the helicopter team comprising a pilot, a darter and a tracker tries to follow the tracks, locate the animal and dart it. When the wolf is asleep, the team can then land and put a GPS collar on the animal.

This method has now proven successful also in the rugged and alpine landscape of the Mercantour in France. The Grimsö Wildlife Research Station experts were able to dart the alpha female of a targeted pack at 2500 m level. The animal weights 33 kg and the whole marking process went very well.

This capture is a major achievement for the research program “Predators – Prey” coordinated by the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage in collaboration with the Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques, the Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs des Alpes-Maritimes and the Parc national du Mercantour. This program is intended to provide new insights into the impact of wolf predation on wild ungulate populations. Previous attempts to capture wolves in France had proven very difficult but the method used by Grimsö Wildlife Research Station proved successful. Since 1998, Grimsö Wildlife Research Station has successfully captured wolves with helicopters more than 150 times. During the next few weeks, Grimsö Wildlife Research Station experts will use their expertise to mark wolves in Finland.

The Grimsö Wildlife Research Station is a research unit from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences performing research on predators, ungulates and their interactions with ecosystems and people. Founded 37 years ago, it has since been delivering major insights on wildlife ecology in Sweden and has served as reference point of authorities.

More information:
Guillaume.Chapron@ekol.slu.se tel +46-(0)581 697313

Media Contact

Guillaume Chapron Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, S

More Information:

http://www.slu.se

All latest news from the category: Ecology, The Environment and Conservation

This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.

innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors