The music of wolves…..and it only took 150 years
The Eurasian Wolf (Canis lupus lupus) was hunted to extinction in Switzerland towards the end of the 19th Century, the impact of direct hunting was also aggravated by the simultaneous destruction of its habitat and large mammal prey species (Kora 2020). This pattern of forest degradation, intense hunting of ungulates and other large mammals, and extirpation of predators was repeated all across Europe at the time.
The last wolf shot in Finland in 1911 (Originally from archive of Museum of Central Finland), Public Domain)
In Switzerland, the first Federal Forestry law came into force in 1876 and many other countries enacted similar laws to commence improved forest management and environmental protection. These steps, coupled with hunting regulations and occasional re-introductions, created the possibility of recovery for many species and, in most countries, populations of large mammals are now of a size not seen for many centuries.
But some species take longer to recover. In the late 19th century wolf populations in the European continent were only viable in eastern areas such as USSR, Greece, Romania etc. A few countries (Italy, Spain, Poland) had small pockets of highly endangered animals. However, starting around 1970, national legislation for wildlife protection began to take hold and conservation efforts became better organised. Along with international agreements and conventions, a recovery in predator populations began. In Switzerland, starting in the mid-70’s, individual wolves were occasionally recorded, probably wanderers from Italy or further east. In the mid-90’s livestock attacks were being recorded and analysis of DNA in scats (droppings) pointed to wolves of French-Italian origin, and in 1996 one was photographed by a camera-trap.
Sightings increased during the early 2000’s with the first true pair (male + female) recorded in 2010. The first breeding record and formation of a pack occurred in eastern Switzerland in 2012, this pack produced 38 offspring in the years that followed and the ones which survived spread into other areas. By 2016 three packs were breeding in various locations, and by 2019 there were 8 active packs, including a new one which was the first in the Swiss Jura mountains, and two others which had disbanded, (Kora 2020). In 2020 a second pack formed in the Jura close to the border with France, and there are probably more than 100 individuals now in Switzerland.
Wolves in Bavarian Forest (wiki commons)
I have done a great deal of sound recording in the southern Jura which is where I live. In April 2021, I had several of my unattended recording units out monitoring for owls, and I got a faint recording of what I suspected was a very distant wolf howl, but it was very weak. Taking a guess at the distance, and a rough judgement of the direction, and knowing roughly where the Jura pack had settled, I set up four units in a line overlooking a valley below the ridges where the pack may travel, and left them for a week, recording only from dusk to dawn. Three out of the four registered the sound I hoped for. The following is the best example, recorded on 7th May 2021 at 21.00h just as the dusk was settling in. At the start you hear the last phrases of a Mistle Thrush singing, with a second one making alarm calls. Also a Woodcock passes by making its “roding” call, whilst an adult wolf gives two long low howls. At 20s things get busier as more of the pack join in and go through two sequences of excited howls:
Wolves in Europe 2019. Sciencia 58 and Euronatur.
I don’t know how many individuals were in the pack, but it would most likely have been a mixture of adults and young from 2020 and maybe 2021 also. I find it quite a stirring sound, especially when you realise that this is the first pack of wolves in this location for more than 150 years.
Wolves are an important part of the natural biodiversity of the region, and play an important role in restoring the natural functioning of the ecosystem, as do top predators everywhere. But as their numbers increase, so do the fears of those people who have been influenced by folk stories, fairy tales, and the negative symbolism that surrounds the wolf. Wolf attacks on people are extremely rare events (and are minuscule compared with traffic accidents). In north America, with many more wolves and wild-lands, over the 60 years from 1955-2014, attacks average less than one per year, with two deaths recorded in 60 years. In Switzerland roughly the same number of people are killed by lightning each year, and no attacks on humans have been recorded. Wolves try their best to avoid people. But they do create problems when they attack livestock. More than 90% of the livestock killed by wolves in Central Europe are sheep, but in Switzerland only about 6% of sheep mortality is due to wolf attacks. Disease, and accidents such as falls, lightning and rock slides are much more frequent causes of death. Much research has been conducted to design the best ways to protect livestock (a skill long-since lost) and, where this fails, the government pays farmers compensation for animals killed or injured by wolves.
It will be important for the balance of nature that ways are found to harmonise human activities with the natural world, using both practical solutions and education, so that the mistakes of history are not repeated. For a fuller account of all these issues see Kora 2020.
