Golden Jackal Monitoring in Austria
Abstract
The first evidence of golden jackals in Austria occurred in 1987 in Styria. First reproduction was located in southeast Austria, the national park lake Neusiedl in 2007 (HERZIG-STRASCHIL, 2008) and again in 2009 - since then no proof of territorial groups was recorded (Fig 3). Every once in a while a presumable vagrant got reported as roadkill or appeared on a photo trap picture. Assumed knowledge of occurrence in some states is not yet based on scientific evidence. Nevertheless, the decision to list the jackal as hunted species with an open season has been made in upper Austria; in other states the position varies between strictly protected or huntable with closed season In Austria´s neighbouring country, Hungary, the golden jackal population grew rapidly from first recorded individuals in the 1990s (after its Europe-wide extinction in the middle of the 20th century) to over 2500 shot specimen (hunting bag data from www.ova.info.hu, 2014) and an estimated population size of over 7.000 individuals in the year 2013 – about 20 years later. How will golden jackals influence native biodiversity in new areas where future reproductive groups and new population clusters may occur? Are precautions necessary or will it be a positive addition to the existing ecosystem? Many questions arise and probably a very important one will be: How can any decision be made, if neither occurrence is confirmed nor relevant biological or ecological data is yet available for the area in question? Austria will face some of these questions in the future concerning the golden jackal, which found its way here by foot. I initiated this study to start gathering and analyse important data on the golden jackal in Austria. Monitoring of distribution and population changes, as well as zoonotic evaluations are mandatory for European Countries. Furthermore, the assessment of basic diet and possible prey-species for the golden jackal in Austria will be of high importance to both hunting regimes and nature conservation. Worries about possible loss of protected species as well as huntable species have been uttered. This basic research will present reliable data and vital knowledge for jackal management strategies in the future and for further studies.
keywords Golden Jackal null
Publikationen
Goldschakal in Österreich - was nun?
Autoren: Hatlauf J. Hackländer K. Jahr: 2018
Newspaper / Magazine article
Der Goldschakal in Europa und in der Schweiz
Autoren: Hatlauf, J; Fridolin, Zimmermann; Kunz, F; Hackländer, K Jahr: 2018
Newspaper / Magazine article
Project staff
Jennifer Hatlauf
Dr.nat.techn. Jennifer Hatlauf MSc.
jennifer.hatlauf@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-83219
BOKU Project Leader
01.02.2017 - 31.12.2019