Характеристика вольєрів Західного Полісся

The importance of half-free maintenance of game animals increases from year to year. The location of the objects of semi-free maintenance of animals is established in field conditions on the basis of the projects of organization and development of hunting farms of the users of hunting grounds of Western Polissya. In order to analyse the state of sanctuaries we used the materials of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. At the beginning of the 21 century, there were 2 sanctuaries within Western Polissya, in 2010‑5, and as of January 1, 2019 there are 25 sanctuaries occupying the total area of 1662.2 ha. The sanctuary of MSK Sokil LLC is the largest one with the area of 382.3 ha. In addition, there are five more powerful nurseries (9.3 ha, 7.1 ha, 6.4 ha, 1.3 ha, 1.2 ha) for the maintenance of animals, followed by species reproduction and release back into the wild. The farm released thirty one Cervus elaphus in 2018, then in 2019‑50 Ovis ammon, 50 Dama dama and 21 Cervus elaphus were released. Considering the state-owned enterprises, the largest sanctuary is located in Dubrovytske Forestry SOE (72.9 ha). Sanctuaries with an area of ≤5.0 hectares (n = 7) and ranging from 5.1 to 20.0 ha (n = 10) prevail quantitatively. Sanctuaries with the area of 100.0 hа (n = 6) make up a quarter of their total amount. The total area of ​​the four largest sanctuaries is 1133.7 ha (68.2 %), whereas the total area of ​​7 sanctuaries with an area of ​​≤5.0 ha is 14.1 ha (0.8 %), and 10 sanctuaries ranging from 5.1 to 20.0 ha – 86.1 ha (5.2 %). Over the past few years there was a clear tendency for creating large open-air sanctuaries on the territory of Western Polissya. Besides the sanctuary of Yavir Plus Ltd, all others with an area of ​​more than 100.0 ha have been created over the last 5 years, namely: Sokil HPF LLC (established in 2015), Wolf-K LLC (2018), Poliske-Sarny HF LLC (2018), Poliske HF LLC (2019), and Bars LLC (2019). Twenty Cervus nippon and 47 Sus scrofa individuals were maintained there in sanctuaries in 2010. In the beginning of 2019, the main livestock is already 601 individuals of 7 species (Sus scrofa, Cervus elaphus, Cervus nippon, Dama dama, Capreolus capreolus, Ovis ammon, Bison bonasus). A correlation of the species in the sanctuaries is currently being aligned. If in 2010, Sus scrofa constituted two thirds of the total number of livestock (70.1 %), now its share is only 12.1 %. Users are increasingly preferring Cervus elaphus, whose number in sanctuaries has increased to 170 individuals in recent years (28.3 % of the total livestock) and Dama dama (172 individuals or 28.6 %). The diversification of the species composition of animals in the sanctuaries became possible due to the activities of Yavir Plus LLC and Sokil HPF LLC. Therefore, the analysis shows that the development of separate hunting facilities (Sokil HPF LLC, Yavir Plus LLC, Poliske-Sarny HF LLC) is in accordance with the best European standards. The increase in the number of sanctuaries, their area, number of animals and the diversification of species composition are the evidences of the comprehensive approach of the owners of hunting farms to sanctuaries management.