Working to protect biological diversity in the Eastern Anatolian region, the KuzeyDoğa Foundation is monitoring and conducting research on the movements of wolves via satellite transmitters that were placed on the animals for the first time in 2011, the president of the foundation noted on Thursday.

Through a recent study carried out by the KuzeyDoğa Foundation and the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks in the Sarıkamış district of eastern Kars province, the lives of seven wolves with satellite transmitters are being monitored.

As part of the Large Mammals Monitoring Project implemented in the district, researchers are investigating whether the wolves with satellite transmitters belong to a herd, as well as the routes they roam.

Josip Kusak, a professor from the University of Zagreb, followed these wolves with a signal-receiving device on the snow-covered terrain, and KuzeyDoğa coordinator Emrah Çoban measured the trail of wolves on the white sheet as part of the project.

According to the information obtained, the officials of the association warn the breeders and shepherds in the region about the wolves.

Elaborating on the process of placing satellite transmitters on wolves in Türkiye, professor Çağan Şekercioğlu, the president of the KuzeyDoğa Foundation, said, "Living spaces that are shrinking due to human activities bring wolves into contact with humans more frequently. This increases human-wolf conflict. In the end, the wolves lose. Wolves approaching their habitats are often killed with firearms."

Apart from the last project conducted, Şekercioğlu, who is also a faculty member of the Utah and Koç Universities, provided information on the life of wolves in Türkiye, the dangers they encounter and the findings of their research, in an interview with the Demirören News Agency (DHA).

Stating that 81 provinces are ecologically suitable for wolves to live, Şekercioğlu said, "Wolves still live in most of our provinces. However, their current distribution in Türkiye is approximately limited to the surface of around 490,000 square kilometers (189,190 square miles)."

"Wolves are present in 64% of our country. They especially prefer the Central and Eastern Anatolian regions and the mountainous parts of the Black Sea. Since they prefer places where wild mammals such as deer, roe deer and wild boar are abundant, and where human presence is not intense, they are absent in most of the Aegean region and our coastal areas, the low steppes of Southeastern Anatolia, and most of Thrace,'' he explained.

Noting that satellite transmitters were implanted in 41 wolves so far, Şekercioğlu added that they are planning to install transmitters in more than 50 wolves by 2025.

According to the findings of the research, the biggest problems wolves encounter in their natural habitats are the killing of wild mammals such as deer, roe deer and wild boar, which are their ideal food, by humans.

Shepherds' social media use could be another problem professor Şekercioğlu said. "Wolves follow herds of domestic animals because they are easy prey. Shepherds overusing mobile phones and social media in recent years has caused a distraction for them. Shepherds who do not take adequate precautions around their herds may face wolf attacks," he warned.

In addition, Şekercioğlu noted that the first nutritional analysis of the foods that wolves are mostly eating was conducted in Türkiye in 2015. It was revealed that wolves in Kars are not using deer, roe deer and hogs as their primary source of nourishment since these wild animals are being killed in many parts of the country.

He said, "The wolf excrement we examined revealed that the wolves mostly ate the bones of small mammals and carrion of pets they found."

Life expectancy drops

Noting that they believe a large part of the wolf population is being killed by humans, Şekercioğlu also stated that the signals on transmitters placed on wolves were often cut.

"These transmitters are very reliable. We think most of these wolves were killed by humans, and the transmitters were destroyed. Unfortunately, we estimate that most of the wolves we follow each year are killed within a year. This horrific ratio shows how wolves are in a struggle for survival," he said.

"Normally, the average life span of a wolf in nature is six to eight years. There are wolves that live up to 14 years. But since most of the wolves we follow in Kars are killed by humans, their average life expectancy is unfortunately one to two years. Wolves have a very high mortality rate and a very short life span," he noted.

Pointing out that stray dogs in Türkiye are an increasing threat to wolves and other wild animals, Şekercioğlu also noted that while street dogs compete with wolves for food, they can also transmit rabies and other diseases to them.

"They also sometimes mate with wolves, thereby spoiling the genetic purity of wolves. Similar problems are also valid for wolves in other parts of the world. However, there is not much awareness about this issue in our country," he said.

Adding that scientific research on the subject is scarce at the moment, Şekercioğlu also noted that a project investigating wolf-dog crossbreeding has started within the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department of Koç University.