On January 18, I was informed by an employee of the Daleszyce Forest District that a dead wolf had been found. Hunter hunting in that area found a body of a she-wolf with a steel rope on January 17 in a dense firry coppice near the town of Niwy Daleszyckie. Based on the information provided, the death of the wolf did not occur in the place where it was found. It was indicated by the severed line and no signs of she-wolf’s escape attempts.
The Daleszyce Forest District informed the Regional Directorate of Environmental Protection in Kielce about the incident and notified the Police Station in Daleszyce and the District Prosecutor’s Office in Kielce. On January 21, the veterinarian Marcin Mandziak conducted an autopsy, which I assisted. The post-mortem examination showed that the found dead wolf was a female at the age of 8 years, weighed 31 kg and had a good amount of fat. The veterinarian did not find the presence of parasites. During its lifetime, the predator was in good shape and condition. The probable sequence of death was hypoxia and impaired blood circulation caused by the cable being tightened on the animal’s neck. Indirectly, starvation and dehydration may have contributed to her death.

Tomasz Bracik