{"id":1091,"date":"2020-11-16T12:30:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T11:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2020-11-17T18:19:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T17:19:41","slug":"the-european-wolf-an-unfamiliar-new-member-of-the-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/1091\/the-european-wolf-an-unfamiliar-new-member-of-the-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"The European wolf: an unfamiliar new member of the forest"},"content":{"rendered":"
After an absence of over a century wolves have rapidly recolonized Western-Europe. Either seen as the symbol of European wildlife conservation efforts, or as a bloodthirsty predator killing livestock and striking fear in the hearts of people. Statistics don\u2019t support this fear and its recolonization could be seen as a return to the homeland.<\/strong><\/p>\n Disappearance of European wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n At the end of the 19th century the last wolves were killed in Western-Europe. The Eurasian wolf (canis lupus lupus)<\/em> had always been living among Europeans, but was no longer welcome in its natural habitat. Human efforts to eradicate the animal from their surroundings succeeded. Since then most of Western-European countries did not house or encounter wolves for over the century. The European wolf population had pulled back and mainly existed in Eastern Europe behind the iron curtain.<\/p>\n Resurrection of European wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n Becoming a protected species was a blessing to the wolf as their population started growing and wolf territories were increasing. The Greens\/European Free Alliance, a political alliance in the European parliament, strongly supports the conservation of European wolves: \u2018They have an integral role to play in Europe\u2019s ecosystems, systems which have been destabilized and weakened by human activity. The wolf acts like a natural regulator within the ecosystem, by keeping populations of other species like deer in check, providing feeding opportunities for countless scavenger species and redistributing nutrients.\u2019<\/em> During the last decades Wolves became more abundant in Eastern Europe and in search for new territories quickly spread across the rest of Europe. The EU member states currently accommodate approximately 14.000<\/a> wolves. A wolf pack needs about 200-250 square kilometers to be able to feed on sufficient amounts of prey.<\/p>\n Wolves moving West<\/strong><\/p>\n Jos de Bruin has worked with and raised wolves for 25 years. He currently lives near the German-Dutch border where he shelters several wolves. De Bruin explains why wolves from the east are migrating to the west: \u2018Young wolves wanting to have their own territory will keep on moving until they come across a large enough stretch of land where they can settle to start their own pack.\u2019<\/em> These wolves were indeed the first kind of wolves which entered countries like The Netherlands and Belgium recently, which were the last countries to be visited again by wolves. In these countries its appearance set off an immediate debate on whether or not this apex-predator should be part of the landscape. Especially shepherds owning attacked herds emotionally protested its presence.<\/p>\n\n Ecologist Erwin van Maanen explains why wolves will more often be spotted in The Netherlands the upcoming years<\/strong><\/p>\n