Tracking Poland's Recovering Wolf Packs

Founded in 1996, the Association for Nature "Wolf" conducts Poland's large-scale national census of wolves and Eurasian lynx together with the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, replacing unreliable hunting-inventory estimates with systematic field monitoring. Its data has documented Poland's wolf population recovering from roughly 500 individuals in 2001 to around 2,000 by 2019 as packs recolonized former ranges; in western Poland specifically, the population it tracked grew from a handful of animals to about 140 wolves in 30 family groups between 2002 and 2012. The association also designed the scientific basis for Poland's national network of ecological corridors connecting large-carnivore habitats, recommends wildlife road-crossing infrastructure, and promotes non-lethal tools such as livestock guarding to reduce conflict with farmers.