ENETWILD training: second online course on the use of camera trapping for monitoring wildlife and density estimation

Abstract

The main objective of ENETWILD is to collect data on wildlife density, hunting and occurrence and to model geographical distribution and abundance of wildlife species throughout Europe. This subject is of particular concern in the case of wild boar due to the continued advance of African swine fever (ASF). Training, generation of harmonized wildlife abundance data following defined standards and enhancing the network of wildlife professionals in Europe is a key activity of the project that, especially in previously identified gap areas (eastern Europe). In this context, the ENETWILD consortium previously organised an online training course on camera trapping in September 2020. An outcome of this previous course was the need to organizing specific and more intensive training focused exclusively on camera trap data analysis. Therefore, the objectives of a second online course carried out in April 2021 were: (i) to be able to prepare a datasheet (using their own data or those provided by ENETWILD), and (ii) to analyse the data to estimate the density and error intervals. This course was attended by 53 game biologists, animal health professional and wildlife experts from national hunting and forest authorities. Detailed explanations, protocols and examples to implement such analyses were provided. This course on the use of camera trapping for monitoring wildlife and density was useful to complete training of a network of collaborators which are estimating wild boar densities over gap regions of Europe and are funded and supported by ENETWILD. They are now self-sufficient to apply field protocols and to analyse data. In addition, several participants manifested their interest to join this initiative by using their own means, contributing to this pioneer network of harmonized wildlife monitoring over Europe.