European Brown Bear Expert Team Co-Chair

Djuro graduated in veterinary medicine in Zagreb, Croatia in 1975, then specialized in ecology (master’s degree) and wildlife parasitology (PhD, 1979). In 1979-80 he was on a Fulbright grant at the Wild Animal Disease Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Since 1981 he has been conducting a brown bear study in Croatia, which in 1996 expanded into a study of all large carnivores in Croatia (bear, wolf and lynx). Other projects he has led included: National Geographic Society, International Bear Association, Euronatur, Bernd Thies Foundation, U.S. - Croatian science technology program, ALIS, Alertis, LIFE Wolf, LIFE COEX, GEF KEC, INTEREG DinaRis. Methods employed in these projects included radio-telemetry and genetics. Professionally, Djuro is involved with: Croatian Ecological Society, Croatian Biological Society, IUCN SSC Bear Specialist Group and Wolf Specialist Group, IBA (past Council member and Vice-president), Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, Wildlife Disease Association. He is currently professor emeritus of Biology in the Department of Biology at the Veterinary Faculty in Zagreb, where he teaches Zoology and Ecology.