Research project to reduce mowing deaths of fawns

Every spring, many volunteers are out and about across Germany to retrieve fawns from their bedding before farmers mow their fields. A major research project was initiated in Bavaria in 2020 to obtain background information on the behaviour of does and their fawns.

In order to answer the various questions posed by the project, the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry and Forest Economics collected temporal and spatial data on the habitat use of doe fawns in three priority areas in Bavaria as part of a telemetry study. The collection of this data is important in order to better understand the movement and preferred habitats of roe deer during this critical phase in spring. The icucam 4 was used for this purpose.

The transmitted images enabled the researchers to see in advance whether and when the trapping systems were well accepted and to keep a constant eye on them during the trapping periods. Above, a doe can be seen running into one of the box traps set up; and below, a goat that is still a little more sceptical.  

The team also enjoyed and frequently used the online functions of the Premium subscription, which allow the cameras to be moved and triggered remotely. The transfer of the images to the smartphone within a very short time or the app itself was very valuable for the whole process. 

Find out more about the project here:
https://www.lwf.bayern.de/biodiversitaet/wildtiermonitoring_jagd/245340/index.php

The Project: 

The cooperation project "Reduction of mowing mortality in fawns - wildlife biology risk profile and effectiveness of detection and deterrence measures" of the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture (LfL), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Bavarian State Research Centre for Forestry and Forestry (LWF) aims to understand the wildlife biology background and to verify the effectiveness of detection and deterrence measures.