From 4 to 9 November, we had a great opportunity to host Dr Mihai Pop in our research group. Mihai is a versatile scientist and bear ecologist from Romania, with extensive interdisciplinary professional experience in research centres and NGOs.
Mihai led a seminar on “Conservation policies for large carnivores in Romania”, providing us with a broad insight into the many actors involved in various carnivore management actions and an interesting historical perspective. We discussed the differences and similarities between the Polish and Romanian bear management systems. We further explore these discrepancies also at the landscape level during a two-day field session in the Bieszczady Mountains. His insights from different parts of the Romanian Carpathians on food conditioning and human habituation of bears are helpful to better understand what attracts bears to certain villages more than others and relevant to knowing which direction should management actions take.
Back in the office, Mihai had a technical discussion with Agnieszka Sergiel on methods of collection, storage and analyses of bear tissue samples.
Overall, it was a brief but intense and enriching visit that we hope will set the basis for a fruitful collaboration aimed at understanding and promoting coexistence between humans and bears in different parts of the Carpathian Mountains.
by Carlos Bautista