Large Carnivores Getting Comfy in Europe

[BlackHatGuy]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/large-carnivores-getting-comfy-in-europe/

[Bob Gross]

Doug, for your next trip to Europe, you should adopt a baby wolverine.

Good luck trying to get it away from the wolverine mother.

–B.G.–

[Kattt]

Thanks for the link Doug.
I had been hearing about bears in particular finding their way back into Central Europe from the east, but I did not know about the wolves. The article says that in mainland Europe " the area examined has double the human population density of the U.S. But it also has twice as many wolves." Not sure if they are talking about density of wolves or actual numbers, but still…

Great. Watch me go solo this summer and meet the one pack roaming the alps :)

Edited to add that since I wrote the post I have been reading about wolves in Europe and wow, so many more than I had thought. Just Spain alone has about 2000 gray wolves.

[Bob Gross]

The wolves in Spain must be feeding on wild and domestic sheep.

–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

Wow, never even would have thought that Spain has any wolves. That's pretty cool and interesting.

[Bob Gross]

Meanwhile, the Spanish wolves are thinking: "Wow, never even would have thought that Spain has any sheep. That's pretty cool and interesting. Let's eat."

–B.G.–

[Anonymous]

"Meanwhile, the Spanish wolves are thinking: 'Wow, never even would have thought that Spain has any sheep. That's pretty cool and interesting. Let's eat.'"

Only if the Spanish wolves originally came in from France, adopted a new lifestyle and country, but had overly listened to the French people too long when roaming through France.

"Those Spanish barbarians don't have real sheep, not like us French honh honh honh."

Problem with wolves is that they tend to be too literal and took it at face value–hence the surprise when they arrived. Either way, you're right, the conversation quickly went to eating.

[Franco Darioli]

Did you know that there are bears (about 100) and wolves (about 1500) in Italy too ?

[Stephen M]

I was reading on a news report today that
some Spanish farmers have had 10% of their sheep and
cows killed by wolves. The wolves are a protected species so the farmers
are under pressure.

[Ken Thompson]

Government pays for farmers losses. Next issue. Least of Spain's problems

[Kattt]

"Did you know that there are bears (about 100) and wolves (about 1500) in Italy too ?"

I did not until just a day ago Franco. When I lived there I am pretty sure there were no wolves left and only a few stray bear would make it in through Slovenia.
I have been reading about the "re-wilding" programs in parts of Europe, including Italy; seems like while the animals have been reproducing successfully, the population is no longer used to having these large predators as neighbours. I can easily picture that.

Interesting stuff. Thanks again Doug for bringing this to our attention.

[Franco Darioli]

Never seen a wolf in my area but they used to be there till the 1930's (there is ONE known individual now crossing over from Switzerland).
This guy :

There are actually two bear sub-species in Italy divided into 3 areas.
One in the the Abruzzo area has been cut off from other bears for a very long time.
The two other small populations (same sub-species) consist of one that again has been there since ever and another of about 10 that have moved over from Slovenia recently , seen on the map just inside the border.

The bears are all individually known however I suspect that the published figure of the wolf population is highly exaggerated.

[Roger Caffin]

So far we have seen many vultures and large raptors, one bear and one wild boar in Europe. No wolves.

Cheers

[Nick Gatel]

We need to send Kat and her cameras to Europe!

[Franco Darioli]

As an aside, there is a breed of dogs in Italy called "Italian Wolf", we had one of those..
It originates from a 1966 cross between a male wolf and a female German Shepherd.
Zorro was their offspring and all "Italian Wolves" (not the wild kind…) come from that one.
Here is one :

They are used by the Italian Financial Police force (sort of Custom) as a working dog .
So if you hear an Italian talking about a wolf it could mean one of those dogs.

[Luke Schmidt]

My philosophical question would be how are European countries going to keep these wolves "wild" in the long run? I think a scenario is possible where the wolves begin to act like feral dogs (eating trash, little fear of humans etc.) Its not just that I have some romantic idea about how wolves live. What happens if wolves start interbreeding with strays? Which ones go to the animal shelter and which ones get shooed back into the woods? I think its great they are getting their wolves back, I just hope they stay wolves.

[Bob Gross]

Incidentally, read the book: Never Cry Wolf, by Farley Mowat.

It will give you a whole new appreciation for mice.

–B.G.–

[Luke Schmidt]

I did read that book as a teenager Bob. It was fun but I was disappointed to hear later that there was some evidence Mowat fabricated parts of the book. What a shame, he did enough interesting stuff too have written a good book without fudging facts and he was a decent fiction writer too.

[Franco Darioli]

Luke,
that particular wolf I posted above is probably dead by now.
After having killed at least 25 sheep in Switzerland in July , the Swiss authorities decided that it could be shot.

[Bob Gross]

Franco, maybe they could just chase the wolves out to the Tyrol.

–B.G.–

[Franco Darioli]

The Italian or Austrian side ?
Would you believe that these wolves have an F number ?
Apparently F15 and F32 are in my ancestral area right now. A male and a female.

[Bob Gross]

Franco, it would sound better to you if the wolves were f/8 and f/16.

In some of the U.S. national parks where a wildlife species is closely studied, they number the males with Mxxx and the females with Fxxx. They do not number the young ones until they are at least one year old. National park employees are discouraged from giving the animals people names, but they do anyway.

–B.G.–

[Franco Darioli]

Did a bit more research..
Not sure why those two were reported as F but described as a male and a female (however not a pair) but found out that they are also called M for male and F for females, so for example F3 and M1 gave birth to F4 M5 M6 and F7 in 1999/2000, then F19 F20 M23 the year after

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Le sigh.

Don't fear the wolf or the bear. Just learn to live with it, and most of all, respect it.

I live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The bears use the trails here as pathways. Why not….it gets them where they need/want to be. The trees behind our house's fence sport bear claw marks, we live above a major trail – and the deer bed down out back as well.

I've seen so many bears in my lifetime that I don't have a count – and yes, I have seen a wolf in the wild. It was the most amazing thing!

Overall, these "predators" want little to do with humans. Yes, they eat livestock, that is their nature – to cull out from herds the dumb, the slow, the old and the sick. They don't see a difference between "livestock" herds and wild herds frankly.

[Dave @ Oware]

Since I moved to NE Washington 5 years ago, the number of wolf packs went from two to 15. Also several new grizzlies have been photographed. Billboards for and against wolf protections have gone up around town.

This billboard looks like they photoshopped a wolf AND gave it grizzly teeth.

[Author]

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