http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,509181,00.html
Link: Grimm's Nightmare: Wolves Solidify Paw-Hold in Germany - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News.
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"The grisly bit of deer corpse is just one more sign that wolves, after centuries of struggling to survive among a European populace bent on their destruction, are making a miraculous comeback.
"We have more wolves living in Germany right now (more...) than we have had in 200 years," Reinhardt says, clearly pleased. "Before, they were hunted with whatever means available, even poison. But for the last 10 years the populations have been increasing all over Europe."
The effects of that destruction remain, however. Whereas Canis lupus was a common part of the fauna just a couple of centuries ago, the populations in Western Europe now tend to be miniscule and isolated. Wolves in Eastern Europe, while more numerous, are likewise pressured. The wolf population figures in Western Europe rarely rise above a few dozen: Norway has just 20, Switzerland knows of three wolves living there, (((Snow White and the Three Swiss Wolves))) and there are only nine packs roaming the wilds of Sweden.
Germany is home to just 30 wolves, says Reinhardt, who spends many a night driving wildly through the black Saxony night trying to follow the radio signals given off by a collar she has managed to fit on one of the local animals. Yet while the number may seem paltry, it comes after decades of single sightings of lone wolves – or discoveries of bullet-ridden carcasses. Indeed, the four packs near Spreewitz are the first ones to reproduce on German soil in centuries. This year alone, they had a bumper crop of 15 bouncing baby wolves....
