Wolves return to Poland more than 50 years after being wiped out

National park outside Warsaw says several of the animals seem to have settled there again after government cull in the 1960s.

Wolves have returned to a large national park on the outskirts of Warsaw, decades after they were wiped out there under a hunt launched by the communist authorities.

“We’re really happy,” said Magdalena Kamińska, spokeswoman for the 150sq mile (385sq km) Kampinos national park, Poland’s second largest. “The fact that wolves have returned to our park, from which they completely disappeared in the 1960s, means that nature is in good health and is renewing itself.”

Park employees spotted a first wolf in 2013, but the animal was just passing through. Now there are several and they appear to have settled in for the long haul, Kamińska said.

A young male wolf was caught on a hidden camera just a few days ago, and in September another was spotted drinking at a watering hole.

Poland’s communist regime organised a vast wolf cull in the 60s in response to their perceived danger, paying residents for every animal shot dead. The park’s last wolf pack was killed in 1964.

Officials added the wolf – rare or extinct in much of western Europe – to the country’s list of endangered species in the 1990s following protests from ecologists and animal rights activists, including the former French film star Brigitte Bardot.

The move helped reinstate wolves in certain areas, including the mountainous region of Bieszczady in the south-east. There are about 1,000 wolves in Poland today.

Datum: 26/11/2015
Bron: http://www.theguardian.com/environm...being-wiped-out
(The Guardian)

Samenvatting: Er zijn voor het eerst in 50 jaar terug roedels wolven gespot in Polen, de bevolking is uiteraard heel tevreden mee aangezien ze uitgeroeid waren door een jacht die geopend werd door communistische leiders.

Eigen mening: Ik vind het geweldig om te horen dat een ecosysteem zich terug aan het herstellen is, zeker omdat deze wolf al de titel "zeldzaam" of zelfs "uitgestorven" kreeg is dit fenomeen des te bijzonder. Dat de mens deze soort een halve eeuw bijna heeft uitgeroeid. Op deze manier bewijst de natuur nog maar eens dat ze sterker is dan de mens en hopelijk wordt deze herbevolking in stijgende lijn voortgezet in de toekomst.