Literary competition results
Literary competition results
Our literary competition “Alternative Little Red Riding Hood” has received many great stories, which we really enjoyed reading. Thank you very much to all participants!
Since each of the stories sent was completely different, equally interesting and original, deciding which one to reward was extremely difficult. Ultimately, we decided to award the main prize ex aequo to two authors, and to award another three. Meet the winners!
Main prize ex aequo:
- Aneta Gizińska-Hwozdyk
- Mariusz Rzepka
Honourable mention:
- Vukmir Dawtian
- Katarzyna Jachim
- Anna Maria Przybyło
Congratulations!!!
We will publish the awarded and distinguished works every Friday. We hope that thanks to them we will disenchant a slightly less-than-perfect image of a fairy-tale wolf! We invite you to read, the first story (in Polish) will be presented on August 19.
Authors of the awarded and distinguished works (who have not yet done it) are kindly requested to send a signed Statement to kontakt@fundacja-save.pl (it is here: https://tiny.pl/wxfmq), and the authors of the two winning stories for contact regarding arrangements for the receipt of prizes.
Thanks again and congratulations!
Geralt's and Gagat's parents need help?
Geralt's and Gagat's parents need help?
As we wrote in the note from May 17, the wolf family from which Gagat and Geralt come have eight puppies this year.
So far, Gagat and Geralt have not been involved in raising their younger siblings – Geralt spent most of his time on the Klonowskie Range, on the eastern side of the S7 road, and Gagat in the west on the Kołomańskie Hills.
Unexpectedly, on July 28, the two set off simultaneously from these areas, almost 20 kilometers apart, and met in the evening in the central part of their native forest. We suspected that their meeting place was the rendes-vous of their family. To check it, we drove over to this place and howled. The whole family with puppies answered us!
What was the purpose of this perfectly harmonized meeting of Geralt and Gagat with the family? Dinner party? Or maybe parents need help in raising fast-growing puppies? Satisfying the hunger of such a cluster is no easy task!
Author: Roman Gula
Wolves on beaver dams
Wolves on beaver dams
The dams built by beavers are used by wolves and other animals in various ways. Our photo trap recorded some of them over a period of several months.
Our photo traps in the Daleszycki Forest repeatedly recorded wolves walking along the dams built by beavers, both during the day and at night. Interestingly, other animals also moved along the dams: deer, elk and wild boar – potential prey for wolves, but also smaller predators – foxes and forest martens.
It seems that beaver dams are readily used by wolves to cross stream valleys and wetlands. These predators are reluctant to cross open, deeper water, and if they have the opportunity to cross a bridge, footbridge, fallen tree or beaver dam, they readily take advantage of it.
The dams and canals built by beavers help improve retention, which is important especially during summer droughts. Thanks to beavers, both wolves and other animals have a constant supply of drinking water, and the environment created by these rodents provides a rich food base for herbivores and places where game can take water and mud baths. In addition, the raising of water levels by beavers increases biodiversity and makes the area around the feeding grounds more inaccessible to humans, making the wildlife living there feel safer.
Wolves also use the dams to hunt beavers and, in the floodplains they create, also ungulates.
Recordings: T. Bracik, M. Wlazło, P. Gola
Text: Tomasz Bracik
Wolf Geralt in the national park?
Wolf Geralt in the national park?
Geralt, a young wolf caught by us in the Świętokrzyska Forest in November 2021, is looking for a place for himself.
On July 1, we wrote about Geralt’s wandering in forest complexes adjacent to his native forest. In recent weeks, however, Geralt had spent most of his time on the Klonowskie Range, east of the S7 road. Part of this forest complex belongs to the Zagnańsk Forest District, but its eastern part has been part of the Świętokrzyski National Park since 1996.
So far, Geralt prefers the western part of the Klonowski Range, but he has also traveled to the Park many times. Will he decide to settle in his area?
From the information provided to us by the staff of the ŚPN, we know that wolves have recently been registered quite often using photo-traps in the Park. So far, however, there has been no information about the breeding of wolves in the Park and on the Klonowskie Range. Geralt therefore has a chance to be a pioneer if he only finds a suitable partner.
Author: Roman Gula
Eight wolf puppies in Lasy Przysuskie!
Eight wolf puppies in Lasy Przysuskie!
Surprise in the Barycz forest district – photos from the photo-trap show that the wolf family has raised eight young!
Photo-trap of the Barycz Forest District recorded photos of wolves a few days ago. Unfortunately it was raining and the photos are not very clear. However, after closer inspection, we managed to establish that there are eight individuals in one of them. They seem to be puppies! The photo was taken on July 31st, so the young wolves are about 13 weeks old.
This is the second year that we have managed to document the presence of puppies in this complex. They previously registered for a photo trap in August 2020.
Authors: Roman Gula and Kamil Kubicki
"Alternative Little Red Riding Hood" literary competition
"Alternative Little Red Riding Hood" literary competition
We invite you to participate in our fun – write your version of Little Red Riding Hood!
Each of us knows the fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood. But have you ever wondered how the story could have developed if its characters were different than it seemed ..? Could Little Red Riding Hood eat the wolf? Or grandma have super powers? Let your imagination run wild and rewrite the story of the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood! But beware, there is one condition – this time the wolf must be a positive or at least neutral hero!
In the competition every adult person can participate , regardless of his/her writing experience or skills – we will evaluate not only the writing skill, but also creativity!
AWARDS:
1x participation in our “Wolf workshops” (in the upcoming preliminary planned for August 20 or later) + publication on our website and FB + SAVE’s t-shirt
3x publication on the website and FB
Deadline: by midnight on August 7, 2022.
Rules: short story up to about 1000 words, in prose, in Polish, so far unpublished and written in 100% by yourself, should be sent as a doc, docx or odt file to the address kontakt@fundacja-save.pl with the title “Konkurs literacki”. The file of the story should include the text: [Name and surname of the author], [e-mail address], application for the “Alternatywny Czerwony Kapturek” literary competition of the SAVE Foundation.
Here you will find detailed regulations: REGULATIONS
The condition for receiving the award is that the laureates send a signed declaration: DECLARATION OF THE WINNER
Join and have fun!
Has Geralt found his place..?
Has Geralt found his place..?
GPS data from Geralt’s collar suggests that this young wolf may have finally found a place to live!
For months he wandered the woods around Skarżysko-Kamienna intensively searching for a partner and suitable conditions for a home. Did he finally succeed?
We followed Geralt’s steps closely when, in February of this year, he dared to briefly wander east (across the S7 route) further than usual. He did so again only in early April. At that time, he arrived in the Siekierzynski Forest, which he explored for several days until something prompted him to make the sudden decision to return to his family home in a flash. He then ran through a nearby village in the middle of the day, something that had not happened to him before. Did something startle him? Maybe people, maybe other wolves?
After this sudden return to his family, for a long time Geralt did not go on any further wanderings. Until the second half of May, when he once again gathered his courage and set out into the world.
This time he wandered a bit further south, to the Pasmo Klonowskie. He spent 2 weeks in the forests there, made a brief foray into the Swietokrzyskie National Park, and returned again to his family in the wilderness west of the S7. However, only for a while, perhaps to say goodbye? Just a few days later, he crossed the S7 again and went to the same area of the Pasmo Klonowskie as before, staying there until now – apparently he finally found the right conditions to settle there. Or maybe he met a she-wolf with whom he plans to start a new family…?
We will try to find out by tracking down Geralt and checking his locations in the field. What will we find at the site? Maybe the tracks of two wolves wandering together imprinted in the mud…?
Stay tuned for more news about Geralt’s fate!
Author: Joanna
We help Ukrainian animals!
We help animals from Ukraine!
In March, we helped organize the delivery of food and other necessary supplies to pet and exotic animal centers in the Kiev area. The transport was led by a friend of our foundation, excellent photographer Michal Siarek (www.instagram.com/michal.siarek), and he was accompanied by Nikolai, who also lent his car for the purposes of the campaign (we encourage you to visit Nikolai’s profile – Koko Bkb, where he posts materials revealing the secret lives of wolves and other forest creatures).
By the way, we would like to say a big thank you to Megan’s company, which donated food for exotic birds, and the Borishev Safari Zoo for donating medical supplies!
In May, another shipment took place, this time of several tons of dog and cat food, which we organized in cooperation with a Ukrainian village called Bojarka. The food was delivered near Kiev and is currently being distributed to local shelters and other places helping animals. We would like to thank the organizations SOS-Pfotenparadies E.V. and the Kejtersi Foundation, who donated the gifts, and of course the producers of the donated food. Many thanks also to Adam and again to Nikolai, without whose help in transporting and loading the donations we would not have been able to deliver some of them.
Thank you!!!
Author: Joanna
Summary of the conference "Wolves rendez-vous 2022"
Summary of the conference "Wolves rendez-vous 2022"
The popular science conference about wolves is behind us!
On Friday, June 3, a popular science conference devoted to wolves was organized by our foundation in cooperation with the Regional Directorate of State Forests from Radom.
Naturalists and foresters from the świętokrzyski and Radom regions as well as wolf lovers from various parts of Poland came to the Forest Education Center in Jedlnia-Letnisko. The turnout was great and the number of guests reached almost 100!
During the three parts of the meeting, members of our wolf team had the opportunity to talk about the biology and ecology of wolves, methods used in monitoring, genetic research and analysis of the wolf’s diet. It was also an opportunity to learn about the specificity of wolf damage in Podkarpacie and about the methods of solving possible conflicts between people and wolves. During Roman Gula’s lecture, conference guests could find the answer to the question “Should we be afraid of a wolf?”, and hear about the genesis of a negative image of this predator in the eyes of many, not only European communities.
In the last part of the meeting, wolf specialists from various regions of the country talked about packs from their neighbourhood and presented the most interesting photos and video surveillance videos. It was an opportunity to meet wolf families from the Augustów Forest and the Odra Valley, as well as to watch recordings of a surprise from the Poznań region, where in the Zielonka Forest two she-wolves from one family became mothers almost at the same time. There were also anecdotes from the tracks and stories about personal experiences from meetings with wolves and other forest inhabitants.
The conference officially ended at 4:30 PM with a shared meal for all participants.
We would like to sincerely thank RDLP Radom, and in particular Mr. Jacek Koba, for his excellent cooperation and help with the organization of the conference, as well as all participants and speakers for the wonderful time spent together.
During the conference, the following spoke:
– Katarzyna Bojarska from the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences;
– Roman Gula from the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences;
– Jacek Koba from the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Radom;
– Tomasz Bracik (SAVE);
– Jacek Major (SAVE);
– Joanna Toczydłowska (SAVE);
– Piotr Portnicki from the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences;
– Hubert Fedyń from RDOŚ Rzeszów;
– Artur Milanowski (SAVE);
– Tomasz Figarski and Bartosz Piwowarski from the Ostoja Naturalists’ Association;
– Joanna Harmuszkiewicz from the Augustów Forest District;
– Katarzyna Kozyra-Zyskowska from ‘Praca Przyrodnika’;
– Marta Gawrysiak monitoring wolves in the Zielonka Forest.
Thank you!
Author: Joanna Toczydłowska
A new generation of wolves from the Świętokrzyska Forest
A new generation of wolves from the Świętokrzyska Forest
Surprise during routine monitoring in the forest.
While checking the location of Gagat, a young male wolf we recently collared, we came across a pleasant surprise – a burrow with wolf pups was hidden under the roots of a large fallen tree!
The eight little ones looked healthy and happy. They are the youngest siblings of Gagat.
Author: Joanna Toczydłowska