Helping Wolves in Slovakia Slovakia, part of Czechoslovakia until 1993, is almost unknown in Britain. Enveloped by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, tucked away behind the Iron Curtain or overshadowed by Prague, it has been kept hidden for centuries. But this small central European country is home to a remarkable range of wildlife.
European bison are occasional visitors near the Polish border, where there are also moose.
In addition, Slovakia has eagles and falcons, ten species of owls, butterflies, endemic Carpathian plants and much more. As in all countries where they are or were present, wolves have been heavily persecuted in Slovakia by people due to irrational fear, the belief of hunters that they deplete deer populations and the loss of livestock to wolves as well as bears. Traditional views label wolves as vermin, deer as a resource for human hunters and forests as timber, with little consideration given to the relationship between these three. In fact, too many deer cause severe damage to trees and wolves can therefore be of great benefit in limiting their numbers. Cergov Wolf Reserve Cergov is a 600 square kilometre upland beech-fir forest near the Polish border in eastern Slovakia, The forest is home to both roe and red deer, wild boar, and European grey wolves.