Wolf and man

Living with the wolf
Especially here in Switzerland, the wolf is always the cause of heated discussions and anger among farmers and sheep farmers. Of course, it is understandable that people get upset when their animals are killed by a wolf. On the other hand, we should finally understand that we should learn to live with these wild animals rather than constantly fighting against them. Every animal is good for something and if we have a problem with the wolf, then it is certainly not the wolf's fault.

Wolves here
Of course, it would be nice if we could observe wolves here again. But unfortunately there are only a few areas left that are large enough to guarantee that wolves can live a species-appropriate life. This is why there will unfortunately always be conflicts between humans and wolves. If you still want to see a wolf pack live, you should travel to the north. But even there it is difficult to find the shy animals.

Incidentally, no wolves are released in Europe. All the wolves living here have entered our areas of their own accord.

The miracle of Yellowstone National Park
Why we need wolves here too is shown by a fact that happened in Yellowstone National Park in the USA.

At some point it was discovered that the vegetation in the entire park had changed dramatically. There were hardly any tall plants or trees left. Only on a small piece of land that was enclosed by a fence could you see what it used to look like. Some species of animals reproduced so quickly that even hunting by humans was unsuccessful. Because many hoofed animals fed on plants, they ate everything before it could grow back. As a result, there were soon no tall plants left and even the grass hardly grew back. The landscape changed drastically.

One day two wolves were released, a female and a male. Nobody knew what would happen after that and whether the wolves would reproduce. But after just a few years, a wolf pack formed. They mainly hunted the ungulates, which were too numerous. Over time, the population of the surplus animals also decreased and the vegetation recovered.

Today, there are tall plants and meadows in Yellowstone National Park again and the ungulates no longer reproduce uncontrollably. Most people are sure that this is all thanks to the wolves.