During my time in Europe i found that many of the problems that arise concerning wild wolf populations and people come from confrontations around domestic livestock and farming communities.
There are a number of solutions to deal with these issues; Killing large numbers of wild wolves using legal culls – this is the most commonly used method. We found that this method was ineffective and caused a variety of issues in the months that followed. The selection of the wolves that were taken was often based on visual appearance with the animals with the bolder coat markings been taken from each family. Our research shows that these animals were the decision making pair in the families and without their extensive knowledge, experience and guidance the remaining family members showed severe signs of anxiety.
Electric fencing has also been used with little success as has the use of guarding dogs and even poisoning.
None of the above methods have much effect or respect from the wolves and their ability to solve these issues remains on- going.
There is however one method of containment that the wolves do value and have the upmost respect in. This natural way of containment is the wolves own methods of restricting movement around their individual territorial boundaries using a combination of sound, scent and visual deterrents. We can now use these deterrents to put in place our own natural boundaries which the wolves would not want to cross. This natural form of containment also minimises wolf numbers by using sound to correspond with the female wolfs communications during the early stages of breeding season and allows us to effect the number of pups born that year. This works as a response to territorial occupancy of surrounding families and the principles of breeding dispersing wolves.
We believe this method of supporting wild wolves will develop many benefits for both the wolves themselves and the bio-diversity that surrounds them, including domestic livestock.