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Study in 34 countries: Number of wolves increases in Europe, Albania...

2025-03-30 21:50:28Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
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The number of wolves in Europe is increasing. According to the latest statistics, their number is estimated to have increased by about 60% over the last decade, going from 12 thousand to 22 thousand specimens. The countries that count more than 1 thousand are Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Spain and Romania.

The study was conducted in 34 countries on our continent, and was published in the scientific journal Plos Transformation by an international research group, with the collaboration of several universities.

The population of this animal has registered an increase in 19 out of 34 countries, while the number of specimens remains stable in 8 countries, including Albania, Croatia, Norway, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Romania.

Meanwhile, in other neighboring countries in the Balkans, their number continues to decline, specifically in North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Based on the data collected, it is estimated that in Europe, wolves kill around 56,000 domestic animals per year, out of a total of 279 million head of livestock. 

Although this phenomenon varies from country to country, as a result of many factors, on average, livestock guardian animals are at about a 0.02% risk of being killed by wolves.

And compensation for livestock farmers for these losses costs European countries around 17 million Euros every year. The loss of livestock has been one of the main reasons for the disappearance of wolf packs, not only in Europe, but throughout the world, a process that began deep in the Middle Ages, where in some countries their killing was legally established, and then intensified in the 1970s, where in many countries this animal disappeared completely.

Among the countries that have the greatest losses in this regard are Italy, Greece, Spain, France and Croatia, perhaps due to different growth practices, but also compensation systems.

While attacks on humans are extremely rare in Europe, and the most frequently reported cases come from Italy and Greece. Another phenomenon that is observed and stands out is the mating of wolves with dogs, which poses a threat to the conservation of the species in the chain of life, and the increase in hybrid animals.

The study highlights how wolves can also have a positive economic impact, albeit in relative terms. In some countries, statistics show a reduction in road accidents in rural areas, or even less damage to forest plantations, through the control they exert on populations of other animals such as wild deer. However, the data is not sufficient to reach solid conclusions for all European countries.

Wolf howls, beyond myths and legends, serve the animal to gather the family pack, to transmit danger, or to communicate something over great distances, as howls can be felt up to 130 square kilometers away. 

In world literature, this hunter occupies a prominent position, as fairy tales have labeled him as a dangerous animal, often symbolizing stinginess, destruction, or even witchcraft, especially in the Middle Ages, embedding in the human imagination the connection with the Full Moon and its ravenous appetites.

The first written record in ancient texts mentioning the wolf is the Babylonian epic poem Gilgamesh, where the goddess Ishtar turned all the men she slept with into wolves.


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