Fauna of the Slovenian forests

Just as the natural features and good past management of forests have maintained a wide variety of vegetation, the wildlife in the Slovenian forests is also diverse. Among the forest animals special status is accorded to game, which may be hunted under the provisions of the Game and Hunting Act. The bodies in charge of game management in Slovenia are the Forest Service of Slovenia, which is responsible for hunting plans, hunting ground managers (hunting associations represented in the Slovenian Hunting Federation, and hunting grounds with special purpose as part of the Forest Service of Slovenia, Triglav National Park and the Brdo Protocol Service) which implement the plans, hunting inspectors and the line Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, which is the overseeing body.

Kočevje and Notranjska are the main habitat area for protected species of large wild animals, these being the brown bear - the largest wild animal in Europe, the wolf and lynx. Management of large wild animals and other protected fauna is entirely within the competence of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning.

In the forests across the greater part of Slovenia there are large numbers of red deer, roe deer and wild boar, and in the mountainous areas chamois and ibex can also be found, with mouflon present locally. Among the smaller game animals are the beech marten and the pine marten, European hare, badger and fox. The world of birds is just as diversified in these forests, with the grouse and capercaillie, birds of prey (golden eagle, buzzard, hawk, white-tailed eagle), owls (tawny owl, Ural owl, long-eared owl and eagle owl) and woodpeckers (green, black and grey woodpecker), which are all protected wildlife species and may not be hunted. An inhabitant of the beech forests in the high Karst is the fat dormouse or loir. Hunting these dormice is an old tradition in Slovenia, especially in the Kočevje and Notranjska regions, and represents part of the cultural tradition in this country.

Tone Lesnik, Forest Service of Slovenia, Večna Pot 2, Ljubljana