Traditional knowledge, new tools - How Herders Are Learning to Share the Land with Wildlife Again

Long before wolves, bears and other large carnivores became the subject of EU policy debates and conservation strategies, herders across Europe already knew them well. In the mountain pastures of Romania, the highlands of Greece and the rangelands of Spain, generations of pastoralists developed a practical understanding of large carnivore behaviour, and built their farming practices around it. Livestock guarding dogs, communal herding, night enclosures and carefully timed seasonal movements were not romantic traditions: they were survival strategies.