Telekom Srbija helped to reveal secret life of bears
For the first time in Serbia, last autumn one brown bear was marked by a GPS/GSM camera necklace. The bear from Mt. Tara, weighing as many as 250 kg, wore the necklace for almost a year and thus provided important footage documenting the life of this strictly protected and endangered species in this country. This unique project in the Balkans was implemented by Public Enterprise Mt Tara National Park in cooperation with the Belgrade Faculty of Biology and with the support from Telekom Srbija. The findings of the project entitled The Secret Life of Bears were presented in the village of Mitrovac on Mt Tara where the footage from the camera wore by the marked bear was publicly revealed for the first time. Among other things, the camera recorded its emerging from its den, its wandering through thick forests of Mt Tara while avoiding open spaces and encounters with people, as well as its making contact with two females.
The footage showing the movement, behaviour and habits of the biggest mammal in this country, provided valuable scientific knowledge and will also contribute to a more efficient protection of this variety. The footage taken with the camera makes it possible for the wider audiences to familiarize themselves with the bear as the key variety of the forest eco-system with its irreplaceable role in the preservation of the natural balance.
“Telekom Srbija's support for such projects has three forms. The first is its financial support for purchasing the necessary equipment and experts' field activities in the protection of biodiversity. The second is its efforts to raise public awareness about the importance of biological diversity through the promotional drive No Species Dies Alone. Probably the most important segment, which is directly associated with our business operations, is the creation of a favourable telecommunications ambiance in all parts of Serbia to ensure that numerous data or camera footage be transferred to biologists for analysis and for undertaking relevant protection measures”, said Telekom Srbija's representative, engineer Zoran Karić, who was also a member of the team that caught and marked the bear last year.
PE Mt Tara National Park Director Dragan Karaklić said that Mt Tara was the regional centre of biodiversity and that the core function of the national park lay precisely in its protection and the monitoring of certain species. “The preservation of significant species and their habitats calls for a multidisciplinary approach, cooperation between different institutions and experts using state-of-the-art technological solutions, and the provision of support by socially responsible companies. For this reason, we thank Telekom Srbija for having recognized our needs and the importance of this project”, Dragić Karaklić concluded.
“The findings of such monitoring of bears will contribute to better understanding of their immeasurably important role in the forest ecosystem as one of the most valuable representative of biological diversity playing an important part in the preservation of nature”, said professor Duško Ćirović of the Belgrade Faculty of Biology.
Apart from the systematic prevention, control and reduction of all negative impacts of business operations on the environment, for a number of years, through its promotional drive No Species Dies Alone, Telekom Srbija has lent its support to organizations and experts engaged in the preservation of biological diversity as it is one of the major present-day environmental challenges. Without a preserved, integral biodiversity, there can be no ecological balance, healthy environment and sustainable development, which is also our Company’s strategic commitment. Besides directly backing such projects, Telekom Srbija also aims to maintain the speedy development of the telecommunications network and to ensure that it becomes a much stronger pillar for addressing environmental issues we are all facing.
