Bled/Kranjska Gora/Gorje - Wolf packs that have appeared in the upper Gorenjska region in the north-west of the country in recent years are causing increasing problems. In the summer, the number of attacks not only on small livestock but also on cattle increased, particularly in the Jelovica area.

Three packs of wolves are currently present in the Bled area - two on the Jelovica and Pokljuka plateaus, and another in the Upper Sava Valley, the three-border area where a culling permit is in place until the end of the year, Blaž Černe from the Bled department of the Forest Service told the STA.

Due to the damage caused by wolf attacks, the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry has initiated a procedure to issue an emergency culling licence for Jelovica as well.

All three of the packs have got bigger this year with the largest one on Jelovica including at least four adult wolves and six pups.

In recent months, this pack attacked cattle, such as cows, horses and donkeys, several times. "These attacks were very brutal. They required the cooperation of the entire pack and are of particular concern, which is why an application for an emergency cull has been made," Černe said.

Wolves have been causing trouble in the Pokljuka area as well, having killed a number of sheep. The rising number of attacks have forced herders to move their livestock from mountain pastures to areas that are closer to villages.

What is more, this year there have been no more traces in the local forests of wild game or the western capercaillie, which is the special focus of nature conservationists.

In light of this, Gorje Mayor Peter Torkar wonders whether it makes sense to introduce large carnivores such as wolves and lynx into these areas. His concerns have been echoed by several other local mayors who believe there are too many wolves in the region and worry about the future of agricultural pasture there.

"I don't know where this is going if the mountains get overgrown and we have to hide behind electric wire fences," said Bled Mayor Janez Fajfar, warning that wolves had been getting closer to villages.

There are no known cases of wolf attacks on humans, but domestic animals are at risk, noted Černe, urging dog owners, in particular, to keep their dogs under control, including when they are in the forest.

It is only a matter of time when the Karavanke area will also become home to wolf packs, and grazing of small livestock will virtually disappear from the local mountains, as is already happening in the Julian Alps, said Andrej Avsenek, the head of the Bled Forest Service. With wolves also attacking cattle, agricultural pasture in general will not be faring well, he added.

The mayors have urged the government to set a maximum number of wolves allowed in the environment, as wolf numbers, they said, are now increasing sharply without a natural enemy. "We expect the state to play an active role so that nature conservationists and the hunting organisation can agree on this and find solutions that are appropriate for our farmers," Kranjska Gora Mayor Janez Hrovat said.

The presence of large carnivores in the area is a fact, said Andrej Arih, the head of nature conservationism in the Triglav National Park (TNP) organisation, a fact that park rangers accept.

However, they see the permanent presence of the wolf as a major management challenge, as it is also necessary to ensure the long-term maintenance of agricultural activities in the face of threats posed by this animal.

Since protection by fences is not possible in the Alpine area, other solutions will have to be found to protect pasture, Arih said.

The TNP organisation financially supports telemetric monitoring of livestock, which is showing some positive results. However, wolf movement patterns should also be monitored to prevent conflicts.

This year, in cooperation with the Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty, they have been trying to fit wolves with GPS telemetry transmitters, but have been unsuccessful so far.

Culling is a radical or extreme option, said Arih, but the TNP organisation is not against it if the wolf in question is proven problematic.