Reasonable preventive actions help to significantly decrease and avoid damages caused by big predators to bee-keepers and cattle farmers. Constant attention needs to be paid to measures that prevent damages in the ongoing honey flow period and herding season.
The honey flow period and the herding season of cattle lasting from the spring until the autumn coincides with the time of raising the progeny of our big predators and their active feeding period. For the big predators widespread in Estonia (brown bear, wolf, lynx) and jackals who have been added to our fauna in the last years, catching prey is a prevalent and natural feeding habit. In the case of such a way of life, the interests of predators and bee-keepers and cattle farmers are often crossed.
In this summer, cattle (sheep, bovine animals) have been killed across Estonia and bears have destroyed apiaries. “Our big predators are territorial, clever and persistent animals. The damaging of beehives by bears and killing of sheep by wolves will often be repeated in the same place due to insufficient protective measures and the damages may become very big. The key to solving such a conflict is in the hands of bee-keepers and the owners of the cattle,” said Tõnu Talvi, Chief Specialist of Nature Conservation of the Environmental Board.
The Environmental Board advises bee-keepers to take measures to prevent damages caused by bears. The best way is to surround the bee-hives with a working electric fence that has been installed correctly. In addition to protect the beehives, one can combine the electric fence with a strong and at least 1.5 metre high chain link fence, also visual, acoustic and unpleasantly smelling scarers can be used. The cattle can be protected from predator damages also by using cattle dogs in addition to a predator control fence that has been installed correctly.
The Environmental Board shall compensate for the damages caused by big predators to the bee-keepers and cattle farmers; for that, one must notify the Environmental Board immediately after discovering the damages. Also, relevant expenses which have been borne to avoid attacks shall be compensated for. For more information on the prevention of predator damage, please visit the homepage of the Environmental Board.
In the ongoing bear hunting season, the hunters need to pay their attention to hunting the nuisance specimens acting near the damaged apiaries. A special permit has been issued on the island of Saaremaa for hunting nuisance specimens of wolves.
Additional information:
Tõnu Talvi
Chief Specialist of Nature Conservation of the Environmental Board
E-mail: tonu.talvi@keskkonnaamet.ee
Phone: 5016 869
