O initiativa
interesanta. Numai sa nu afle Nastase sau Tiriac despre Centrul de la
Zarnesti, ca s-a zis cu el...
Vali
------------------------------------------
Howling at the Moon
Learning to Live With Wolves in the Romanian Foothills
by Chuck Todaro
Learning to Live With Wolves in the Romanian Foothills
by Chuck Todaro
Some 2,000 years ago, the barbarous Carpathian
rulers known as the Dacians charged into battle against the invading Roman
forces behind wolf-head banners. They were crushed and ultimately assimilated by
the Romans. From this union of “wolf people” and the great Italian civilization
under the sign of the she-wolf was born the Romanians.
Romania has 3,500 wolves, and they’re becoming a
tourist attraction as well.
Ever since, the wolf, or “lup” as the locals know
it, has played an integral part in the Romanian culture and psyche. Today the
Carpathian wilderness is home to more than a third of Europe’s large carnivore
population, or 3,500 wolves, which is nearly as many as found in the entire U.S.
The wolf is a major player in Romanian folklore, and retains a supernatural
reputation. “Speak of the wolf and his tail appears” warns the old Romanian
proverb.
Christoph Promberger of the Carpathian Large
Carnivore Project (CLCP), who has been researching the large carnivores of the
southern Carpathian Mountains for the past 10 years, contends that his greatest
finding is how easily carnivores can co-exist with people.
In Romania, it’s not completely out of the ordinary
to spot a bear leaning head first into a neighborhood dumpster. After all, an
estimated 5,500 bears roam the Romanian territory, an area roughly equivalent in
size to the state of Michigan.
At the suburban apartment complex of Racadau, some
bears have learned how wasteful humans can be and regularly descend from the
hills to feed from garbage bins. Their scavenging has been so widespread that
crowds gather in the street to await their arrival.
“People still think that carnivores, and especially
wolves, can’t live in proximity to humans,” says Promberger. “But just look at
Yellowstone Park. People are getting scared that wolves are getting too
close.”
Though wolves have a sinister and near-mystical
reputation, CLCP worked in conjunction with the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) to capture some extraordinary footage of wolves roaming unnoticed through
rush-hour traffic on their way back from the local zoo, where they regularly
venture for scraps of meat. The team was startled by the disinterested
commuters, who treat these fierce hunters like common street dogs. “The wolf is
a very adaptable species and has shown its ability to cope with high human
densities,” says Luigi Boitani, a zoology professor at the University of Rome
who has written a conservation plan for European wolves. “They know how to live
among humans. It is up to us to show the same kind of adaptability and
tolerance.”
Romania today is still a fairytale land, with
fabulous old architecture, horse-drawn carts in the roadways, peasants wielding
huge sickles and hospitality like the olden days. Shepherding is still a large
part of the economy. As in centuries past, shepherds still routinely herd their
flock towards higher altitudes and greener pastures. And the wolves’ taste for
sheep is the same as it always has been. Now and then, just like in the
storybooks, a wolf slips in and steals one.
Shepherd Gheorghe Corca has spent 30 years leading
his flock into wolf territory, and has faced these large carnivores many times.
Experience has made him more afraid of the wolf than the larger but more easily
avoided bear. “The bear is heavy and you hear him step,” explains Corca. “But
the wolf is a silent creature.”
In 1997, CLCP started the country’s first
ecotourism program and took its first step towards proving that humans can live
and prosper around large carnivores.
Zarnesti, 100 miles north of the capital city of
Bucharest, sits right in the backyard of Dracula’s Castle. The old border town,
whose Transylvanian-style homes stand like little gothic fortresses, dates back
to the brutal Middle Ages, the era of Dracula model Vlad Tepes (known as “The
Impaler” for his treatment of Ottoman Turkish prisoners).
Zarnesti is a multi-cultural community, much as it
was depicted in Bram Stoker’s novel, with Romanian, German and Hungarian names
side by side on the tombstones in the town cemetery. And what Romanian town
would be without its colorful gypsy settlement? Zarnesti has four.
But while wolves and bears have thrived under the
nation’s new protective environmental laws, the townspeople of Zarnesti have
continued to struggle. Unemployment is still the town’s number one problem. The
ecotourism program has done its share but only 150 people of the town’s 27,000
are directly affected.
Hikers can be seen disembarking at the train
station and marching in a line straight through town to the trails. The next
day, they return leaving behind just their footprints. “So we had this idea to
build a Large Carnivore Center,” says Promberger. “We are building it on the
other side of town so that instead of simply flooding the environmentally
sensitive areas, people would spend their nights in town, and visit restaurants
and shops.”
The center opens in 2005, covering 135 acres of
protected Transylvanian land, with a lecture hall, classrooms and spacious
outdoor enclosures for bears, lynx and the wolves “Crai” and “Poiana,” both
rescued from a nearby fur factory. There will also be exhibition rooms dedicated
to the large carnivores and their habitat.
Carnivores are becoming central to Romania’s
tourism industry. Promberger says, “When I first came here there were a lot of
people who felt we were living in the Middle Ages because we had so many wolves
running around. They thought we had to ‘solve’ this problem in order to join the
West. Now this has changed. People see the wolves and bears as a heritage that
Western countries have lost.”
E MAGAZINE.COM
A service of E/The Environmental Magazine. Copyright 1995 - 2004.
A service of E/The Environmental Magazine. Copyright 1995 - 2004.
EuroAtlantic Club: http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/
***
Birou de traduceri autorizate. Oana Gheorghiu - tel/fax: 252.8681 / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
| Yahoo! Groups Sponsor | |
|
|
Yahoo! Groups Links
- To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
