Europe’s Wild Wolves Are Back

Are Wolf and Bear Conservation Efforts Sustainable?

Europe’s natural landscapes are undergoing a significant transformation, with large carnivores like wolves and brown bears making a striking comeback. This resurgence is a result of decades of conservation efforts aimed at reversing the damage caused by habitat destruction, hunting, and human expansion.

One of the most notable examples of this comeback is the wolf. Once on the brink of extinction in many parts of Europe, the population of this keystone species is now steadily increasing.

According to a recent study published in PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, European wolves have expanded their range in this century, with Germany seeing an increase from one pack in 2000 to 184 packs in 2022. Most European nations are experiencing recolonization, with the exception of microstates like Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican.

Keystone animal population recovery is largely attributed to the establishment of legal protections as well as the restoration of natural habitats. The latter is due in part to abandonment of rural areas and shifts in agricultural practices.

Monument to the shooting of one of the last wolves in Lower Saxony, Germany, in 1872. Wikimedia

Resurgence Brings Challenges

In a report for the European Commission, Professor Luigi Boitani, an internationally renowned expert in carnivore ecology at the Sapienza University of Rome who was involved in the PLOS study, and John D. C. Linnell, senior research scientist of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, wrote that “conservation and natural recovery is leading to novel ecosystems,” with species showing up in places they have not occupied before.

The resurgence of wolf populations has revived old concerns: Wolves kill approximately 56,000 domestic animals in the EU per year, with annual damage compensation costs estimated at $18.5 million (17 million EUR). Questions about how to balance human interests and those of big carnivores have pressured policymakers to act.

An article in Reuters reports that the European Commission (EC) proposed on March 7, 2025, to make it “easier to hunt wolves in Europe,” citing their growing numbers and the threat they pose to livestock as reasons for the policy adjustment.

An EC spokesperson explained that European wolf populations had reached 20,300 in 2023, a 58% increase over the last decade, according to the PLOS study.

Reuters said the proposal would alter European Union law by lowering the wolf’s protection status from “strictly protected” to “protected.” (The European Union bans the killing of “strictly protected” animals through its Habitats Directive).

An EC spokesperson explained that European wolf populations had reached 20,300 in 2023, a 58% increase over the last decade, according to the PLOS study.

Benefits of Wolves

The PLOS study identified positive socioeconomic impacts from the European wolf resurgence, such as reductions in damage to forestry from undulates (hooved mammals, such as deer), reduced vehicle-undulate collisions, and increased eco-tourism.

Many of the ecological services that reintroduced wolves provide are the direct result of reduced prey populations, such as elk and beaver. Beaver, through their damming of waterways, impact the hydro-ecology of wetlands and rivers, and when their damming activities are reduced, the course of rivers can change.

The dynamics of the relationship between wolves and beaver, as well as wolves and other carnivores, continue to be debated, with scientists studying such things as the impacts of newly available prey carcasses on a range of other carnivores, such as bears, the European lynx, wolverine, and golden jackal.

The wolf rewilding project at Yellowstone National Park in the US has been a model for similar projects.

The Road Ahead

As the wolf and bear populations continue to expand and re-establish themselves in Europe, continued collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and local communities will be needed to ensure long-term conservation success.

“Conservation cannot succeed without the support of the people living alongside wildlife,” says the UK’s Prince William, who launched the Earthshot Prize, a nonprofit established to reward outstanding service to the environment.

For more information on efforts to rewild Europe’s large carnivores, the full PLOS study can be read here.

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