{"id":8516,"date":"2017-11-27T10:23:54","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T10:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/?p=8516"},"modified":"2021-03-03T13:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T13:21:51","slug":"matt-maynard-return-of-the-wolf-a-guide-to-europes-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battleface.com\/blog\/matt-maynard-return-of-the-wolf-a-guide-to-europes-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Maynard | Return of the Wolf: a guide to Europe’s Forests"},"content":{"rendered":"Approx read: <\/span> 5<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

Wolves are back in Europe’s forests.<\/h2>\n

Matt Maynard travelled to Sweden to learn how Scandinavian communities are adjusting to this predator. He explains their habits, dispels some myths and waxes lyrical about sharing wild spaces once more with the king of the canines.<\/h2>\n

\"\" Early morning scoping for animal signs \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

Wolf at the door<\/h4>\n

\"\" Exploring Sweden’s forests can feel like travelling back in time \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just arrived in the V\u00e4stmanland province of central Sweden, and there\u2019s a wolf on the loose. Yesterday it walked across a children\u2019s playground. The older kids threw rocks at it, but the residents in the small town of Kolsva are concerned and fearful. By night, men stalk the woods with guns. By day, government employees strategize how to coordinate its elimination. It sounds like the plot from a gothic horror film. But the year is 2017. And this lone wolf is very real indeed.<\/p>\n

The Kolsva wolf has been sighted all summer long. Members of the local council have been trying to tackle the wolf unsuccessfully for months, and now refer to it jokingly as \u201cthe bastard wolf.\u201d But for many rural Swedish people, the wolf\u2019s return is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n

Where are the wolves coming from?<\/h4>\n

\"\" The abundance of prey has contributed to the wolves’ return \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

The last wolf was killed in the UK several hundred years ago. But this March, they staged an unlikely return in Devon. Of course, wolves aren\u2019t running wild in the British Isles. Not yet at least. But a pack of Swedish wolf cubs are now being raised at the Wildwood Escot site in Devon. Advocates of rewilding<\/a> would like to see the wolf roam-free once more in Scotland. They argue that the renewed presence of this top predator would have trickle down effects on everything from reducing overgrazing by deer, to encouraging beaver populations, changing the course of rivers<\/a> and even potentially reducing flooding. Not bad for an animal that is everybody\u2019s favourite villain (blame practically every Disney film ever made).<\/p>\n

Real life wolves can now be found throughout the Pyrenees, in increasingly large pockets of Scandinavia, on either sides of the Adriatic Sea, throughout Italy as well as Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania. They have been sighted in Germany and are reclaiming the woodlands of France<\/a>. Increases in forest cover, prey and protective EU legislation in the last few decades have helped bolster their numbers. But what does this mean for humans? And is it safe to venture out into wolf territories?<\/p>\n

Should we be afraid?<\/h4>\n

\"\" Tobias Hjortstra\u030ale says humans have little to fear \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are professional killers,\u201d Tobias Hjortstr\u00e5le tells me plainly. In the warm office of the Wildlife Officer and Game Warden in V\u00e4ster\u00e5s, it is hard to imagine these wild animals roam the woods outside. But the threat to domestic animals and livestock is very real indeed. When pressed about if a pack of wolves could overpower humans, Tobias replies \u201cyes, they absolutely could take us down.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a case in point he tells the grim story of \u201cthe wolf of Gysinge.\u201d In 1820 a man-eating wolf in Sweden killed nine children and young adults, injuring 15 more. \u00a0The wolf of Gysinge was raised from a cub by a rural family. In the early 1800s, a wolf\u2019s fur was equivalent to an agricultural worker\u2019s monthly wage and the family\u2019s plan was to fatten it up for slaughter. But these were austerity years in Sweden and, unable to feed the animal, they reluctantly let it loose. The gruesome reality of what happened next lived long in Swedish memory.<\/p>\n

And yet \u201cwolves don\u2019t see human as prey,\u201d Tobias explains. Not wild wolves at least. \u201cI would be afraid of a loose dog,\u201d he adds, \u201cbecause I can\u2019t be sure how it\u2019s been raised.\u201d Problems with wolves, as with the wolf of Gysinge, arise when they are treated unnaturally.<\/p>\n

Wild camping in wolf country<\/h4>\n

\"\" The author hikes a typically stunning section of the Bruksleden Trail \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

Over the next few days I hike with my companion into the remote territory of the F\u00e5rna wolf pack. I follow the rugged Bruksleden trail, carpeted by a spongy reindeer moss underfoot, and shadowed by stands of Scots Pine forest overhead. At dusk I wade through a swamp just outside Bockhammar before pitching camp in a remote clearing. Silence pours out of the deep woods, and a near full moon climbs into the sky. A wolf howl tonight is far more likely than the sound of any motor vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"\" 70% of Sweden is forest and the people are accustomed to spending time outdoors \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

Around the fire we reflect on Tobias\u2019 words about the relative safety of camping amongst wolves compared to encountering an unknown domestic dog. Here in V\u00e4stmanland the wolf\u2019s return is still a relatively new, startling and intimidating proposition for many rural people. Farmers especially are concerned for their sheep. Tobias estimates that 10-15 years is the necessary time for communities to readjust to the new predator in their midst. Reintroducing the wolf in the UK is likely to create even more conflict due to our historic open hill farming, compared to Sweden\u2019s enclosed system with electrified fences.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the future of the wolf in the UK, it feels good to be sitting around a crackling fire knowing the king of the canines is out there somewhere in the Swedish darkness. We fall asleep reluctantly that night. Not due to any concerns for our safety. But because we are waiting for the call of the wild.<\/p>\n

\"\" You don’t need to see wolves whilst camping in the woods to feel excited about their return \u00a9Matt Maynard<\/p>\n

Bite-Size Wolf Facts<\/p>\n