In October 2014 a team of the LIFE Bear Defragmentation project has visited different permeability and mortality reduction measures developed by the LIFE12/NAT/GR/000784 ARCPIN and other previous projects in the Egnatía highway in Greece.
LIFE Bear Defragmentation team, accompanied by Yorgos Mertzanis, Yorgos Iliopoulos and other specialists from the NGO Callisto, one of the partners of LIFE ARCPIN project, have visited some parts of the highway crossing the Pindo Mountains, where 24 bears have been killed by car collisions between 2008 and 2013 and very important measures were developed to solve this problem. Tunnels, passes, underpasses and alert signals have been constructed, but the main measure was the construction of a bear proof fence in the most problematic sections of the highway.
The exchange of ideas and experiences has been very helpful for the design and implementation of the project actions, but also for future considerations about infrastructure permeability and habitat connectivity in Cantabrian bear range.
October 2014
Yorgos Mertzanis (Callisto, right) and Fernando Ballesteros (FOP, left) on the Egnatia highway