A sled ride through the forest with a pack of wolves.

These young wolves were part of a re-introduction scheme and have since been released into the wild,

the conservation director was familiar to them and they seemed happy to follow the sled through the forest as long as he was present.

The wolf has been protected throughout Poland since 1998. Now, according to national census and monitoring of wolf recovery in

Western Poland, there are about 900-1000 wolves in whole Poland.

The Polish wolf population makes up the western-most range of a large, continuous Eastern European wolf population, which has retained a high level of genetic diversity.

In other areas of occurrence of this species in Europe, e.g. Italy, France, Spain or Sweden, populations are more isolated,

limited in number and genetic diversity, and very sensitive to environmental changes.

Poland, due to its location in the central part of Europe, is one of the most important refuges of this noble animal,


and is an important source of dispersing individuals to regions where it was eradicated many years ago.