Despite the project approaching an end, we visited the Tatra Mountains again in October 2020. Together with our colleagues from the Tatra National Park, we inspected bear bones found earlier.
Monitoring mortality and registering such cases is very important. We will not be able to analyze those samples within the BearHealth project anymore, but their collection and archiving is a part of the protocols that have been developed over years, and are effectively used by us and our colleagues studying bears in other countries.
It always makes sense to collect samples and archive them in a sample bank, even if they cannot be analyzed in the near future. Properly maintained archive of samples and data is an extremely important element of population monitoring. Such a bank of samples can then be used to answer many important questions.