Wolves on moors and proving grounds
Since January this year, the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences has been implementing a program of the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Wrocław concerning wolves in three Natura 2000 areas (Dolina Dolnej Kwisy, Wrzosowisko Przemkowskie and Wrzosowiska Świętoszowsko-Ławszowskie), in the eastern part of the Lower Silesian Forest. The program aims to determine the number of wolves, among others, through snow tracking and genetic tests. Unfortunately, the snow cover was not sufficient. Fortunately, the research area consists largely of active and inactive military proving grounds, with plenty of sandy roads. You can successfully track wolves on them (photo). In addition, thanks to photo-traps, we have the opportunity to learn more about local wolves, including an impressively large, reproducing male (film). The research area is quite dry, which means that places with water become the center of the social life of ungulates and scenes (film) take place there like at waterholes in Namibia.
Katarzyna Bojarska