Carnivore Damage Prevention News (CDPnews) is a professional newsletter focused on the complex challenges presented by the coexistence of carnivores and human communities. It acts as a forum to raise awareness of potential solutions, to facilitate collaboration among practitioners, researchers, managers and others as well as to improve knowledge exchange between countries and across the boundaries of traditional disciplines.
CDPnews was created in response to the challenges and opportunities of coexisting with carnivores. We aim to bring together diverse people and interests, sharing knowledge worldwide of the broad range of existing adaptation strategies and encouraging constructive dialogue and practical innovation.
The current issue highlights the millennia-old relationship between bears and humans. It discusses the impact of climate change on bears and human-bear interactions, and the benefits of international collaboration in managing bear populations, as seen in various global initiatives. Innovative approaches, such as Karelian bear hunting dogs in Japan and the ‘bear smart community’ in Romania, showcase the importance of local context and the value of learning from global practices for sustainable coexistence and conflict mitigation.
The articles also explore community-based initiatives and policies in various countries and underline the need for a blend of traditional knowledge and modern conservation strategies.
CDPnews is open to proposals for articles from anyone with expertise or experience in the field anywhere in the world. Submissions, which are peer-reviewed by our editorial team, range from original research to reviews of best practices, evaluating new tools and techniques, presentation of projects or personal perspectives and opinion pieces.
Our Guidelines for Authors can be downloaded below
Andrea studied environmental engineering related to the management of natural resources in an agricultural context. She joined Agridea in 2023, in particular for a project concerning coexistence between wolves and bovid/equid breeders, finding practical solutions to mitigate conflicts, and for CDPnews as a web content manager.
Daniel Mettler studied philosophy and economics. He worked for several years as a shepherd and created the Centre for Livestock Damage Prevention for Switzerland at AGRIDEA. He has published several articles, technical papers and guidelines on protection measures. He is currently responsible for a variety of topics including regional development in mountain areas and the management of alpine pastures.
Robin Rigg is a biologist focused on large carnivore ecology, management and coexistence with people. He has over 25 years’ experience of implementing and evaluating damage prevention measures. He is a member of the IUCN specialist group Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe and the Slovak Wildlife Society. He has studied at the universities of Cambridge, Aberdeen and Ljubljana and wrote his Masters thesis on livestock guarding dogs.
Coming soon:
Ecology, behaviour, population dynamics and conservation of carnivores and wild ungulates. Conservation of species that cause conflicts with humans. Ecology – social science interdisciplinarity.
Valeria Salvatori is a conservation biologist who has focused her work on carnivore ecology and management for the last 20 years. She is a member of the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe and has led LIFE projects aimed at mitigating the impacts of large carnivores on agricultural production. She gained her Masters degree at Sapienza University, Rome, on the ecology of South American foxes and her PhD at Southampton University on habitat suitability assessment for wolves, bears and lynx in the Carpathian mountains.
Micha Herdtfelder is a trained mediator and specialist in human dimensions of wildlife. He is head of the large carnivore working group at the Forest Research Institute in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. He promotes fact-based, trust-building communication between stakeholders in order to find viable solutions for coexistence with carnivores, including damage prevention. He studied geoecology in Karlsruhe, focusing on wildlife ecology and hunting techniques, and wrote his PhD thesis on Eurasian lynx.
Katja has been working as a graphic designer and web developer at Agridea in Switzerland since 2022.
Silvia Ribeiro is a biologist at Grupo Lobo, Portugal, with extensive experience in conflict mitigation, particularly the use of livestock guarding dogs to prevent damage by wolves. She has trained in animal welfare and her Masters in ethology focused on the ontogeny of social preferences in livestock guarding dogs. She is currently concluding her PhD on physiological aspects of canine social attachment.
Solomon Araya combines expertise in technology and agriculture, highlighted by his role as Project Leader for Chatbot and Digital Content at Agridea, Zurich. With a Master’s degree and multiple certifications, his diverse experience extends to agricultural roles, showcasing versatility. Fluent in different traditional and programming languages, Solomon Araya exemplifies technical proficiency and a commitment to innovation.