Earth Science News
FLORA AND FAUNA
'Demonised': Polish scientists warn of fear mongering about wolves
'Demonised': Polish scientists warn of fear mongering about wolves
By Ola CICHOWLAS
Konskie, Poland (AFP) July 1, 2025

Scientist Roman Gula showed images of wolves filmed in a nearby forest with hidden cameras to locals in the Polish town of Konskie, assuring them they pose no threat.

The professor has been monitoring a wolf pack in the region -- midway between Warsaw and Krakow -- for years.

"Wolves have recolonised Polish forests," he declared proudly to people gathered in a community hall.

Having almost gone extinct in the 1950s because of hunting and war, the country is now home to some 3,600 wolves -- one of Europe's largest populations after the species made a remarkable comeback.

Yet Gula and scientists across Europe worry that years of progress could be undone.

EU lawmakers last month approved downgrading wolves from the status of "strictly protected to protected" -- allowing hunting to resume under strict regulations.

The European Commission called for the changes, arguing that the population growth of wolves threatens people and livestock.

Its head Ursula von der Leyen had herself campaigned for downgrading the status after her pony was killed by a wolf.

Gula said the move is not based on science and is the culmination of a Europe-wide anti-wolf campaign.

"Wolves have been demonised since the times of the Old Testament," he told AFP.

"It is a political decision, part of a right-wing push to try to control nature."

He said that wolves are "terrified" of humans, avoiding them at all cost, and that there are ways to protect livestock.

He is not alone in being angry at the move.

"Europe turns its back on wolves and science," said a statement from leading conservation groups last week, accusing lawmakers of waging "wars against our fragile species and ecosystems".

- 'Weakly enforced' -

Experts said wolves, which are notoriously difficult to track, have become more visible thanks to footage of them being shared with smartphones. Climate change is also forcing the animal to move out of dried up forests to fields to find food.

Poland has tried to reassure conservationists, saying it will not change current rules, under which it gives out rare shooting permits.

But Gula said protection laws are "weakly enforced". Three wolf watchers in different parts of Poland told AFP that wolves they had GPS collars on were shot by hunters who went unpunished.

Along with researcher Joanna Toczydlowska, Gula has made it his mission to inform people about wolves in areas where they have spread to.

It is no easy task as hunters are influential in small-town communities.

In Konskie, a town of 33,000 people, emotions run high.

Some men at the talk accused Gula of being a foreign-backed stooge, arguing wolves should be hunted.

Others were proud the animal had returned to their native lands.

Fitness instructor Monika Cholewinska came to the event because "people talk about wolves more and more" and she wanted to know how to behave if she saw one.

Teacher Malgorzata Switagorska admitted that "we live among forests and there is some fear".

- 'Wolves can help farmers' -

As he walked through dry high grass in a forest a 40-minute drive from Konskie, Gula said a warming climate is changing the way wolves hunt.

"I know this terrain, it used to be swamps, now it's a total drought," he said.

Sabina Pieruzek-Nowak, who spent decades studying wolves in Poland, argued changes in hunting behaviour could bring some positives.

"Wolves give concrete benefits to the human economy," she said.

As forests dry up and farming becomes ever more large-scale, wild animals like deer and boars increasingly move to fields to find food. These animals, she said, cause thousands of euros in damages on fields.

"Wolves kill them in the fields. This is good news for farmers," she said.

Politicians campaigning against wolves have had a devastating effect on the animal's reputation in Europe, Pieruzek-Nowak said.

She now spends much of her time debunking a barrage of false claims about wolves on social media and the local Polish press.

She hoped Poland will keep protecting its wolves -- a rare nature success story in Europe.

Back in the forest, Gula lifted up a heavy antenna, walked around in a circle a few times and waited.

Finally, his radar beeped, detecting a nearby wolf that he had a collar on.

He smiled triumphantly: "He's somewhere here."

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Spotted: endangered leopard in Bangladesh
Dhaka (AFP) June 26, 2025
Photographs of a leopard snapped by camera traps in forests in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts have raised hopes among conservationists working to save the critically endangered species. Bangladesh's Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA) issued pictures of the leopard emerging from lush green bush, celebrating the "evidence that these elusive big cats still persist" in the forested hills where Bangladesh borders India and Myanmar. "We have to ensure the protection of the species so that it do ... read more

FLORA AND FAUNA
Texas floods: Misinformation across political spectrum sows confusion

UN aid meeting seeks end to Global South debt crisis

Search for woman who texted 'we're being washed away' in Texas flood

Pentagon to erect 4th military zone along U.S.-Mexico border

FLORA AND FAUNA
Germany criticises China curbs on rare-earth exports

A New Alloy is Enabling Ultra-Stable Structures Needed for Exoplanet Discovery

Meta's AI talent war raises questions about strategy

Q-Tech expands rad-hardened oscillator line to boost new space platform designs

FLORA AND FAUNA
The Seine star of the summer again in Paris

'Significant declines' in some species after deep-sea mining: research

The long slow death of Norway's wild salmon

Fiji says would not welcome China military presence in Pacific

FLORA AND FAUNA
Glacier retreat could drive a surge in volcanic eruptions worldwide

German navy to patrol the Arctic

Denmark develops tool to predict ice-free Arctic summers

In Norway's Arctic, meteorologists have a first-row seat to climate change

FLORA AND FAUNA
Rotten insects, viral videos and climate change: S.Korea battles 'lovebug' invasion

Drought-hit Morocco turns to desalination to save vegetable bounty

China's 'new farmers' learn to livestream in rural revitalisation

Beijing decries 'discriminatory' ban on Chinese purchases of US farmland

FLORA AND FAUNA
India monsoon season death toll hits 69 after floods, landslides

Death toll in Texas floods climbs to 108, with more rain expected

Rescuers on horseback, with dogs search for Texas flood victims

One dead, 28 missing in floods on China-Nepal border

FLORA AND FAUNA
Nigerian hikers blaze trails despite insecurity

Anxious residents re-emerge after Mali jihadist attacks

US sanctions on Sudan over alleged chemical weapons use take effect

Green bonds offer hope, and risk, in Africa's climate fight

FLORA AND FAUNA
Beyond male dominance in primates new study redefines gender power roles

Light travels through entire human head in breakthrough for optical brain imaging

Human brain reveals hidden action cues AI still fails to grasp

Deforestation in S.Leone national park threatens chimps, humans alike

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.