Today, on World Environment Day, Rewilding Europe signed an agreement about joint practical efforts together with the Large Carnivore Initiative of Europe. The two organisations are going to work together over the coming years exploring pragmatic, practical ways to live side by side with these at times a bit difficult neighbours.
Anyone who has seen the film ‘Dances with wolves’ with Kevin Costner could easily get the false impression that wolves are cosy animals that you can even hug or dance with. Our young Boskarin bull, recently released in a small herd in the wild Velebit mountains in Croatia knows differently by now.
Denmark most probably now has its first wolf family since over two centuries! “Ulvetracking Danmark” (UD), a group of wolf enthusiasts in Denmark, have gone to great lengths to register the sounds of the Danish wolves, recorded in Jutland in January. Holly Root-Gutteridge, an English wolf expert and PhD student at Nottingham Trent University, believes that these howls stem from an entire wolf family. This means that Denmark in 2013 probably had its first wolf pups born in the wild for well over 200 years.
According to the Belgian TV-show “Dieren in nesten”, The European bison, the wolf, the brown bear, the wolverine, and the lynx are the “The Big 5 of Europe” – the continent’s five most impressive wild mammals. All these five are – and especially so the European bison which ranked as number 1 – among the symbolical species for Rewilding Europe and emblematic for the wildlife comeback in Europe.
On January 9, the newly established Italian NGO “Rewilding Apennines” signed a contract with Rewilding Europe, about a 3-year workplan, developed by the two organisations together during the last months of 2013. This after the official announcement the past October during WILD 10, the World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain, that the Central Apennines have been selected as the sixth area within the Rewilding Europe initiative.
The Dutch conservation organization Natuurmonumenten (Dutch Society for the Protection of Nature, 1905), with a staggering number of 735,000 members, 150.000 young members (of the OERRR initiative, 2012) and managing some 345 nature reserves covering over 101,000 hectares in The Netherlands, recently published a survey on the attitude of Dutch people towards wildlife in its country. Some 40,000 people participated in the survey showing a clear and positive attitude towards wildlife, wildlife comeback and more space for wild nature and wildlife.
A fresh sunny autumn morning in the late October of 2013 in the Studen Kladenets (Cold Well) Game Reserve in South-East Bulgaria. The colours of the trees are like the design of blankets made by the locals in this region: from green through yellow and reddish to brown. The morning haze is slowly moving from the top of the Yumruk Skala (Feast Rock) down to the smaller hills. The narrow asphalt road along the recently fenced area of a few hectares is almost completely blocked by cars and people.
A regional wolf hunting ban was recently decided in eastern Slovakia, covering one of the rewilding areas: the Poloniny National Park and the Eastern Carpathians Landscape Park, also called the “Wolf Mountains”. This is the first positive step in the restoration and protection of the wolf population in the Carpathians.
The stunning documentary “The Wolf Mountains – Where Nature Is Getting a Second Chance” about the Eastern Carpathians rewilding site, is enjoying huge interest: more than 700 people attended its Slovakian premiere and the discussion until midnight with the authors in the town of Trencin.
The Central Apennines (Italy) was announced as the sixth area within Rewilding Europe today during WILD 10, the World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain (4–10 October). The Central Apennines, known as “the Wild Heart of Italy” is a perfect example of a rewilding area that is very close to a big city. This the newest of our rewilding areas is only an hour and a half’s drive from Rome.