Poland’s wolves trot across key wildlife overpasses

06/24/2012 by DeLene

Critically endangered Central European wolves have learned to use wildlife overpasses that span the major A4 autostrada in western Poland. The first hard evidence of regular overpass use by three separate wolf packs was recently documented by Dr. Robert W. Mysłajek of the Association for Nature, ‘Wolf.’ a Polish organization, and Dr. Sabina Nowak. The pair plan to formally announce their findings at the upcoming IENE 2012 International Conference in Potsdam-Berlin, Germany. {1}
This video, supplied by Mysłajek, clearly shows several wolves loping and trotting across the wildlife overpass, while the sound of vehicular engines ebb and flow in the distance:


The wolves appear to be using the overpasses during the cover of night and the light of day. A highway as large as the A4 is a major obstacle for the movement of predators such as Poland’s wolves, bears and lynx, as well as other wildlife. Which is why it is exciting that these particular wolves are using these particular overpasses.


Documenting the wolves using these overpasses is significant, according to Mysłajek, because the A4 autostrada runs through the Lower Silesian forest which is included in the range of the Central European wolf population. This population is ranked as critically endangered by the IUCN. Wolves have only recently naturally recolonized western Poland after decades of extirpation. Mysłajek attributes their comeback in the western reaches to strict protective measures enacted in 1998.
The presence of these wolves in western Poland, and their willingness to use the overpasses, is a positive signal that their recolonization may continue to gain strength. Myslajek says that there are about 850 individual wolves in about 150 packs in the entire country, and the population appears to be increasing.

Myslajek worked on a two-year project monitoring the wildlife overpasses, but it was only in the second year that the wolves began to venture across the 30-45 meter wide overpasses. He believes that the overpass width plays a key role in the willingness of wolves to use them. “In the videos, we may see that some individuals (probably younger) are afraid when crossing narrow underpassages, but we never observed such behaviour when wolves cross wide overpassages,” Myslajek said via email.

Wolves in Poland have mostly ranged in the forests of the Carpathian Mountains which span the eastern, northeastern and southern parts of the country, east of the Vistula River. But western Poland poses a different set of challenges to wolf packs: hunting, poaching, and dispersal barriers have kept their numbers scarce for the past three decades. Wolves in the country’s western reaches also tend to get physically cut off from the source population of wolves in the eastern part of the country. Myslajek and others have warned that the recolonization process is slow and constrained by development, roads and a growing transportation infrastructure in central Poland. {2}
For more about Poland’s wolves, check out this document from the Association for Nature, Wolf. {3}
SOURCES:

{1} Email correspondence with Dr. Robert W. Mysłajek
{2} Sabina Nowak, Robert W. Mysłajek, Aleksandra Kłosinsk, Grzegorz Gabrys. 2011. Diet and prey selection of wolves (Canis lupus) recolonising Western and Central Poland. Mammalian Biology. 76 (2011) 709–715
{3} Wolves and Humans, a white paper by the Association for Nature, Wolf.

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