Institute for Coexistence with Wildlife
The Institute for Coexistence with Wildlife, ICWildlife, provides a platform for cooperation between specialists of different disciplines in order to achieve coexistence with wildlife
Our objective
Sustainable coexistence with wildlife, and to do everything related or conducive to this. The starting point here is the ethical realisation that the world does not just belong to and for people and that understanding the choices and interests of animals is decisive for solving problems with an eye for the animal’s interests and those of nature.
The projects focus on finding sustainable, ecologically sound and humane solutions to problems caused by wildlife, without killing them. We try to get the projects funded mainly through donations (such as crowdfunding), funds and grants. One example concerns participation in a LIFE project in Slovenia that will allow us to test a prototype of a sheep-friendly collar meant to protect sheep from wolf attacks by 2024. That collar was funded and developed by ourselves. It is comfortable for the sheep, but delivers a painful shock (only) to the wolf if the wolf bites into it (90% of sheep kills are via a neck bite). This unlearns wolves to kill sheep and promotes coexistence.
You can contact members of the board for further information.
The members of the board are:
dr D.W. van Liere (dvanliere”at”icwildlife.eu)
dr Nynke Osinga (nosinga”at”icwildlife.eu)
drs Karen Soeters (ksoeters”at”icwildlife.eu)
dr Dušanka Jordan (djordan”at”icwildlife.eu)
Short resumé of members of the board of the Institute for Coexistence with Wildlife:
Dr Diederik van Liere is biologist and statistical analyst. He received his PhD in animal behaviour. He started in 2001 CABWIM wildlife research and consultancy. His drive is to find non-lethal solutions for problems that wildlife may cause. Examples are rook colonies near houses (assignments in Netherlands, Germany, Luxemburg, Switzerland), geese that eat production vegetation or cross a runway at an airport, raptors that kill free range chickens, wolves that kill sheep, gulls that cause nuisance.
Dr Dušanka Jordan is an assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Animal Science, Slovenia. She received her PhD in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Her main field of work is animal behaviour and welfare. In the last years her work has focused also on wild animals with the emphasis on using ethological principles in finding solutions for problems caused by wild animals (wolf attacks on sheep). On this topic she is working together with Dr Nataša Siard of the same faculty, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Dr Diederik van Liere and the Slovene Educational Society Noah School.
Karen Soeters MSc is the founder of House of Animals, the most significant proactive animal protection organisation in the Netherlands. This foundation has resulted in a major help to several dog and cat shelters that suffer in the Ukraine war. Moreover, her investigations have resulted in revealing and stopping animals traders mistreating animals. She was project leader of the much-discussed climate film “Meat the truth”, responsible for the subsequent documentaries “Sea the truth”, “The hare in the marathon” and the shorter visual documents about mega stables and unanaesthetised ritual slaughter. She edited the book ‘Sea the Truth, essays on overfishing, pollution and climate change’ and Meat the Future.
Dr. Nynke Osinga is a specialist trained in marine mammal protection and prevention of human disturbances in their habitat. The Netherlands are densely populated and also the North sea is intensively exploited. So interferences with animal habitat and animal interests are bound to happen. Concern about mammal populations is the mainspring of Nynke’s drive and research. There are many similarities between marine and terrestrial mammals in the cause and prevention of human-anmal conflicts. She is also board member of Stichting Rugvin, coordinating its monitoring program for porpoises and dolphins in the North Sea. In recent years, Nynke has also become closely involved in CABWIM‘s work especially in the field of rooks and wolf research.