

From 3rd to November 6th, 2016 in Belgrade, Serbia, was held the 6th European Ground Squirrel Meeting. The meeting took place at the Instutute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology University of Belgrade and was organized by Assoc. Prof. Duško Ćirović. The meeting was attended by over 30 scientists, environmentalists and experts from research institutions, non-governmental organizations and national environmental agencies in Austria, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria. From Bulgaria participated Dr. Jordan Koshev (IBER-BAS) - European Souslik Conservation Officer of the BSPB LIFE project "Land for Life" and Simeon Arangelov (Balkani Wildlife Society).
The main part of the meeting was related to the presentation of the proposal for a "National Action Plan for the conservation of the European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) in Bulgaria". The presentation was made at a special workshop, which resulted in extensive discussion on the contemporary status, threats, limiting factors and necessary conservation actions for the species in Bulgaria.
The participants of the meeting united behind a declaration recognizing the species as endangered in Bulgaria and expressed a support to the efforts of BSPB and the experts in the preparation and adoption of the "National Action Plan for the conservation of the European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) in Bulgaria ".
More about the meeting, the participants and the program can be found here.
Photos: Anastasia Ivanova (Moscow University), Simeon Arangelov (Balkani Wildlife Society)