GOLDEN JACKAL IN  SLOVAKIA – HOW IS PERCEIVED BY THE PUBLIC?

Peter URBAN^{1 *},  Jozef BUČKO² & Peter KUŠÍK ³

¹ Katedra biológie a ekológie, Fakulta prírodných vied UMB, Tajovského 40, 974 01 Banská Bystrica;  email: Peter.Urban@umb.sk, urbanlutra@gmail.com   
² Národné lesnícke centrum, Ústav lesných zdrojov a informatiky, Sokolská 2,  960 52  Zvolen
³ 991 05  Obeckov 56
^* korešpondujúci autor

Abstract

The golden jackal (Canis aureus Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most wide spread canid species. His range covering areas of central, eastern and southern Europe, northern Africa and parts of Asia. This species finds favourable habitat in the southeast of Europe (mostly the Balkan peninsula area) and since the 1950´s it began to expand this range. During the last 50 years, significant fluctuations in golden jackal population size and distribution were noted in Eastern and Central Europe. Recent developments in golden jackal distribution shows dispersing this species from their known historic geographic range into the new areas in Europe, especially central Europe, from as far west as Switzerland, Nederlands and as far north as Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Denmark. In 1989 the first golden jackal was recorded in the south-eastern part of Slovakia (in the vicinity of Čierna village, Trebišov district). Between 1995 and 1997 three more golden jackals were shot in the southern part of the country. The presence of the golden jackal in Slovakia is becoming more and more constant and also more disperse throughout the territory. The dispersion pattern is more consistent in the southern and eastern parts of the country, but the data collected are widespread in the whole country. Between 2001 and 2009 jackal was listed as fully protected species and from 2009 classified as a hunting game and was officially established a hunting season was from early September to the end of January and from 2014 is from early August to the end of February.

The aim of this paper was to find out the attitudes people towards this species, his spread, occurrence, conservation and management in Slovakia. The survey was carried out during one month (from February 17 to March15, 2017) by electronic (per rollam) questionnaire survey. The questionnaire contained 30 questions. A total of completed questionnaires, from144 (71.6 %) males and 57 (28,4.4 %) females from all over Slovakia, were included in the survey analysis. Respondents' answers varied particularly when asked about the need for jackal protection, respectively regulation, as well as the damage it causes.

Keywords:  Canis aureus, questionnaire, knowledge, managment, protection, damages