Geralt's wandering anxiety

Geralt, a young wolf caught by our team in November 2021 in the Świętokrzyska Forest, left the forest just a few weeks after being caught and fitted with a telemetry collar and went for a short trip to the Niekłań area.

After a few days he returned, but later made several more such trips. He was on Kołomański Hills, near Stąporków and again in Niekłań forests. He crossed the S7 road at Baranowska Mountain several times and penetrated the forests near Parszów.

During these wanderings he was alone, so we guess that he was looking for his fiancée-wolf. Unfortunately, so far he has not managed to find her. We could find out about it by following him last week during his next hike – this time to the Siekierzyń forests.

We went to the location sent to us by Geralt’s collar and thanks to the snow cover we followed the wolf’s trail. We managed to establish that Geralt crossed the S7 route at night near Łączna, walking along a street passing under an S7 overpass. He then walked along the Kamionka river valley, reached the Skarżysko-Kielce railroad line and crossed it by climbing up an embankment. Then he climbed Barbara Mountain between Michniów and Wzdół Rządowy, where he hunted a roe deer. The next day he returned by the same route to Puszcza Świętokrzyska, but this time he did it in the middle of the day – a violent snowstorm made it possible.

Authors: Roman Gula, Joanna Toczydłowska and Piotr Portnicki