DOI: 10.5061/dryad.np5hqc03g
title: Continuing recovery of wolves in Europe

description: The recovery of wolves (Canis lupus) across Europe is a notable
 conservation success in a region with extensive human alteration of
 landscapes and high human population densities. We provide a comprehensive
 update on wolf populations in Europe, estimated at over 21,500 individuals
 by 2022, representing a 58% increase over the past decade. Despite the
 challenges of high human densities and significant land use for
 agriculture, industry, and urbanization, wolves have demonstrated
 remarkable adaptability and increasing population trends in most European
 countries. Improved monitoring techniques, although varying in quality and
 scope, have played a crucial role in tracking this recovery. Annually,
 wolves kill approximately 56,000 domestic animals in the EU, a risk
 unevenly distributed and differently handled across regions. Damage
 compensation costs 17 million EUR every year to European countries.
 Positive economic impacts from wolf presence, such as those related to
 reducing traffic accidents with wild ungulates or supporting wildlife
 tourism, remain under studied. Wolf recovery in Europe is supported by
 diverse policy and legal instruments such as LIFE programs, stakeholder
 platforms, as well as the EU Habitats Directive and the Bern Convention.
 Coexisting with newly established wolf populations in Europe entails
 managing impacts on human activities, including livestock depredation,
 competition for game, and fear of attacks on humans, amidst varying social
 and political views on wolf recovery. Sustainable coexistence continues to
 operate in evolving and complex social, economic, and political
 landscapes, often characterized by intense debates regarding wolf
 policies.
description: In fall 2022, the authors of this paper compiled estimates of
 wolf population size, trends and damages within their country, as well as
 details of the monitoring methodology used, the quality of the data, and
 other information on the legal status and main conservation measures,
 following a similar method as Chapron et al. (2014), restricting the
 compilation to existing information and without new analyses of raw
 monitoring data. Information was obtained from the most reliable sources
 available at the national level. This joint compilation effort was
 facilitated by the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, a Specialist
 Group of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. Collectively we
 covered all the European continent, except for the
 Russian Federation, Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, representing 34
 countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina,
 Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
 Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
 Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
 Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
 Türkiye (European part), and Ukraine (only the Carpathians)).
description: Manuscript: Continuing recovery of wolves in Europe The two data files
 are: 1. Depredations and compensation costs for each of the 34 countries.
 The following fields document depredations: depredation unit (i.e. n
 animals killed for all countries, except for Poland), domestic animal
 (sheep and goat, cattle, horse and donkey, semi-domestic reindeer, dog)
 killed, total depredations, year of depredation data, amount of
 compensation for wolf damages (EUR), and year of compensation data. These
 figures are taken from Table 3 of the LCIE report by Boitani et al.
 (2022), except for few cases where the number was updated by the
 country-responsible author. The dataset also reports the wolf abundance
 (in number of individuals) and the year of wolf abundance data, as well as
 the calculated depredations per wolf (total depredations/wolf abundance)
 and the calculated compensation per wolf (compensation/wolf abundance).
 The wolf abundance figures are taken from Table 1 of the LCIE report by
 Boitani et al. (2022), with an average value given when only a range was
 provided. 2. Population size estimates for the nine European wolf
 populations defined by the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE),
 respectively for A) 2012-2016 from the Large Carnivore Initiative for
 Europe LCIE (Linnell & Cretois 2018), B) 2013-2018 from country
 reports in 2018 under Article 17 and Resolution No.8 (Eionet 2024), and C)
 2020-2022 from the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe LCIE (Boitani et
 al. 2022). These figures are taken from Table 4 of the LCIE report Boitani
 et al. (2022), with an average value given when only a range was provided.
 References Boitani L., Kaczensky, P. Alvares, F. Andrén, H., Balys, V.,
 Blanco, J.C., Chapron, G., Chiriac, S., Cirovic, D., Drouet-Houguet, N.,
 Groff, C., D. Huber, D., Iliopoulos, Y., Ionescu, O., Kojola, I., Krofel,
 M., Kutal, M., Linnell, J.D.C., Majic, A., Mannil, P., Marucco, F.,
 Melovski, D., Mengüllüoğlu, D., Mergeay, J., Nowak, S., Ozolins, J.,
 Perovic, A., Rauer, G., Reinhardt, I., Rigg, R., Salvatori, V., Sanaja,
 B., Schley, L., Shkvyria, M., Sunde, P., Tirronen, K., Trajce, A.,
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 Patkó, L. (2022). Assessment of the conservation status of the Wolf (Canis
 lupus) in Europe. Council of Europe Publishing: Strasbourg, France.
 Eionet. Article 17 - Species assessments at Member State level (Mammals).
 2024 [cited 20 Sep 2024]. Available:
 [https://nature-art17.eionet.europa.eu/article17/species/report/?period=5&group=Mammals](https://nature-art17.eionet.europa.eu/article17/species/report/?period=5&group=Mammals) Linnell J.D.C. & Cretois B. The revival of wolves and other large predators and its impact on farmers and their livelihood in rural regions of Europe. European Parliament; (2018).