Few people working in wildlife conservation in the 1980s could have imagined a future where breeding wolf packs roam the Netherlands and Denmark — but this is now part of Europe’s new reality. Over the last 30 to 40 years, European wildlife has undergone a dramatic transformation. Conservation laws, like the Bern Convention and the Habitats Directive, provided vital breathing space for many species to begin the long process to recovery. Among the most striking and iconic comebacks are large carnivores — brown bears, wolverines, Eurasian lynx, and especially the wolf — returning to landscapes from where they had been absent for decades or even centuries. From a conservation perspective, this is a remarkable success. Because of large carnivores’ position at the top of the food chain, conserving them in the modern European landscape requires that most of their populations live outside protected areas (such as national parks and nature reserves). This means that we need to share the landscapes where we live, work and play with new neighbors. In most cases, these new neighbors live quiet and invisible lives. But there is no escaping the fact that have the capacity to be very challenging cohabitants. A lynx being released in Poland as part of a rewilding project. Image courtesy of Fabien Quetier/Rewilding Europe. The return of these species has also led to a resurgence of age-old conflicts, such as livestock depredation and fears for personal safety, while also sparking new debates about how our modern society views nature and…This article was originally published on Mongabay
Coexistence with Europe’s carnivores is possible (commentary)
