Video: Young wolves spotted in the Beskydy Mountains, first confirmed breeding

The wolf pack that settled in the Beskydy Mountains near the Czech-Polish border a few years ago gave birth to baby wolves this spring. This is the first confirmed breeding of wolves in this area since their return.

Another area where the breeding of wolves has been confirmed is the Javorníky mountains, where wolf cubs were monitored last year. The information in both cases was obtained thanks to the monitoring by the environmental group the Hnutí Duha.

The public can also help if they spot wolves, but they should be sure to keep a safe distance.

Wolves now occur on both sides of the Czech-Polish border in Silesia. “Wolves have been appearing on the Polish side of the Silesian range of the Beskydy Mountains since 1995, shortly after the wolf as a species became strictly protected throughout Poland. In the Silesian Beskydy Mountains, there are currently at least two breeding packs on the Polish side,” Robert Mysłajek from the association Wilk, which has long been involved in wolf research in Poland, said.

People working in agriculture in the areas with wolf packs will need to secure their land better than they had in the past, when there was less of a threat from wild animals.

“The occurrence of the wolf pack in the Silesian Beskydy region is a great challenge for nature protection and local livestock breeders. Wolves have a varied mosaic of surroundings, from quiet, densely wooded places to urban or frequently visited by tourists. Unfortunately, there is damage to farms, especially sheep. I consider the most important aspect for the possible coexistence of wolves and humans to be good information to the local public and the provision of advice and possible assistance to breeders for the best possible security of livestock,” Jiří Labuda, a field worker for Hnutí Duha Olomou in the Silesian Beskydy Mountains, said.

Roman Cieslar, a sheep breeder from Bystřice nad Olší, said that the presence of the wolf population in his area forced him to take steps to protect the sheep he breeds. “To prevent large-scale attacks by large carnivores, I have improved the system of electric fences and I perform daily night placement of sheep in the enclosure with herding dogs. The bred sheep are slowly getting used to the presence of our shepherd shepherds and are thus better protected against the possible attack of predators,” he said.

Wolf packs feed primarily on red and roe deer, and to a lesser extent wild boars, mouflon and fallow deer.