Wolves are accused of attacking livestock and supposedly therefore need to be exterminated, but scientists have proven otherwise.

The extermination of wolves, the sanitarians of the wild, continues on an unprecedented scale. Bounties for shooting them are being increased, rewarding anyone willing to kill the “enemy of man.” Mass roundups are organized, celebrations are held, and the mass media glorify the “heroic heroes” who have killed the greatest number of wolves.

At the same time, science is being completely ignored, as are the statements of scientists and the calls of the academic community to stop the extermination of this key predator. Even basic logic is ignored! But what kind of logic can we speak of when the only thing at the center of interests is immediate profit? After all, if they pay sums comparable to a good monthly salary for every wolf killed, there will always be those who want to get that money.

Today I want to talk about the following. The fact is that the main reason used to justify the destruction of wolves is supposedly their mass attacks on livestock. They say wolves devour everything in their path, do not let poor farmers live in peace, and therefore the gray monster must be destroyed. All other justifications are secondary; the main core is always the accusation that the wolf kills livestock.

As you know, we are now preparing to launch a separate project in defense of wolves. No one wants to take on this issue; there is too much aggression not only from the system of governance, where commercial interests are intertwined, but also from society, which also in many ways considers the “wolf problem” to be an absolute truth. But we want to try to launch full-fledged work in this direction and seek not only local changes, but also legal protection for the Russian wolf.

So in this connection, over the last few days I have undertaken a thorough study of scientific papers by researchers from all over the world, based on real data about wolf attacks on livestock. Such studies do exist, there are quite a lot of them, and modern technologies now make it possible to carry out deep analyses that were simply inaccessible to people before.

In our struggle for nature, it is important for us to rely on modern scientific data. Many statistics, reviews, and research methods from past years become outdated. Therefore, let us now turn to the latest study, published on April 26, 2025, entitled “Low contribution of livestock to the diet of gray wolves in an area with high availability of free-ranging cattle and horses” — a very good study, a major work carried out by world scientists.

I will clarify right away that this study was conducted under conditions where wildlife is protected and ecosystems are relatively healthy. That is, if you destroy nature, exploit it mercilessly, hand over territories into private hands for the organization of paid recreational hunting, then naturally predators will simply have nothing to eat and they will go to people. They will attack livestock in order to survive! These are elementary things.

But the current study was conducted under the condition of relatively healthy ecosystems, yet also with the presence of a large amount of livestock. This is a very high-quality work, because it shows the real situation: if there is prey in the wild, but there is also livestock in abundance, what will wolves choose?

Next, I quote from the study:

“In 2020–2022, we studied the composition of the wolf diet in the Warta River Mouth region (hereinafter WRM) in western Poland, where herds of cattle (about 4,000 head) and horses (about 700 head) are kept on free grazing. Using genetic identification based on microsatellite DNA markers, tracking, and camera traps, we confirmed that this territory is used by two wolf family groups.

Analysis of scat contents (n = 109) showed that in the WRM wolves feed mainly on wild ungulates (81.9% of consumed food biomass) and wild medium-sized mammals (14.5%). Domestic animals were eaten rarely: cattle and dogs accounted for 3% and 0.4% of the consumed food biomass, respectively. Over two years of research, only three calves consumed by wolves were found.

The diet of wolves in the WRM did not differ significantly from the food composition of these predators in six other study areas within the Central European wolf population. Our research shows that despite the high availability of unguarded herds of cattle and horses, wolves prey mainly on wild mammals.”

These are fully real scientific data — mass attacks on livestock simply do not exist. These are not fully healthy ecosystems, but they are normal for the habitation of wild animals. In two years of research, only three calves, and there are no guarantees that the calves were killed by wolves. It is entirely possible that they died (this is an acceptable threshold in large-scale cattle breeding) for various reasons.

I also found earlier studies. In degraded areas, where wildlife consists of local patches with a high degree of human interference, the share of livestock in the wolf diet, according to some data, reaches 15%. But at the same time, I studied the methodologies of how exactly this was determined, and in almost all studies it was done “according to farmers’ reports.” And farms receive compensation from the authorities for livestock losses; there is a built system there that allows officials to write off money from budgets and farmers to receive compensation payments. And every time the wolf ends up being the one blamed.

The truly real, fully objective data are the latest scientific study of 2025 — under normal protection of nature, even taking mass farming into account, wolves attack livestock only in extremely rare cases.

I will emphasize once again that this is not about fully healthy ecosystems, but about more or less stable ones. Let us have another quote from the study:

“The study area, about 500 km², called the Warta River Mouth <…>

The territory is represented mainly by humid grasslands (56%) and agricultural lands (35%), while forest cover occupies only a small part of the area (5%). Annual fluctuations in the Warta River water level can reach 4 meters. Therefore, significant grassland areas are subject to seasonal flooding. <…>

This is one of the most important areas for waterfowl in Central Europe, and the national park itself is protected under the Ramsar Convention. The average temperature in January is −2.4 °C, in July 19.4 °C, and the mean annual precipitation is 550 mm (Standard Data Form, 2025).

This territory is characterized by a high density of native wild ungulates: red deer (Cervus elaphus) — 8–10 individuals per 10 km², roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) — 27–31 individuals per 10 km², wild boar (Sus scrofa) — 2–3 individuals per 10 km² (data for 2021–2023; Statistics Poland, 2024; Bank Danych o Lasach). In addition, the population density of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) here is among the highest recorded in Poland and amounts to 8–9 individuals per 10 km² (Yanuta et al., 2022).

In addition, the local grasslands are used as pastures for numerous herds of livestock. During the grazing season, which usually lasts from mid-June to the end of November, that is, after the end of the waterfowl breeding season, about 4,000 beef cattle (including calves) and 700 draft horses graze within the WMNP. The livestock is kept on free grazing within the national park, and no protection measures against wolf attacks are applied.”

That is how it is: proper nature protection has been established, and protection of livestock from wolf attacks is NOT APPLIED AT ALL. In essence, wolves have direct access to domestic animals, but as expected for intelligent predators, they avoid humans and live exclusively off wildlife.

Next, another quote from the scientific paper. I want to provide the quote in full, a long one, because it contains very important evidentiary information:

“Our sample size (n = 109 scats) was sufficient for a correct assessment of the share of the main food categories in the wolf diet in accordance with recommendations from the recent literature (Trites and Joy, 2005; Dellinger et al., 2011). However, we are aware that wolves may consume the carrion of wild and domestic animals found within their home ranges (Śmietana and Klimek, 1993; Selva et al., 2005). Therefore, it should be borne in mind that food composition determined by scat analysis may overestimate the real level of predation on a given species.

Contrary to our expectations, livestock constituted only a small part of the wolf diet in the WRM (3% of food biomass), which agrees well with the results of other studies conducted in central Poland, where wolves rarely attack farm animals (Nowak et al., 2011, 2024b; Mysłajek et al., 2019), despite their availability (Statistics Poland, 2024). Given the absence of compensation claims from livestock breeders in the WRM, it may be assumed that most livestock remains found in wolf scats in this area are associated with scavenging. This is supported by the observation that among cattle grazed in the Warta River Mouth National Park, losses of calves in the form of stillbirths or deaths during the first day after birth average 1.5% and may reach 2.3% in the Charolais breed (Dobicki et al., 2007). Since the owners do not maintain continuous supervision over the herd, calf carcasses may remain available to wolves for extended periods.

<…>

Wolves in the WRM also consumed domestic dogs, although this occurred rarely. No complaints about wolf attacks on dogs were submitted either to the Warta River Mouth National Park or to the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection — the institutions responsible for compensation. Consequently, it can be assumed that the dogs eaten by wolves were stray or free-roaming. According to data gathered by Polish hunters, about 138,000 free-ranging dogs are recorded on hunting grounds, and they annually kill more than 33,000 game animals and 280 livestock animals (Wierzbowska et al., 2016). Free-roaming dogs have a negative impact on wildlife (Krauze-Gryz and Gryz, 2014; Wierzbowska et al., 2016); therefore, wolf predation on such dogs may be regarded not as a problem, but as an important ecosystem service.”

These are scientists’ data. Real scientific data obtained as a result of research. I am attaching the full scientific paper so that you can study it if necessary, including the methods used in the investigation (this is very important).

File Study the research (PDF) 2,2 МБ

I remind you that in Russia, and throughout the world, the large-scale destruction of wolves is underway. They have been branded enemies of man; bounties are paid for every killed individual (in Russia up to 50 thousand rubles for a killed wolf), roundups are organized, and nature is literally being purged of wolves. It has been permitted to destroy them by methods of torture (using steel traps and snares), to shoot them from helicopters, to kill their young, and to destroy dens. It is also permitted to use flash-bang devices to exterminate wolves, and the authorities have removed limits — nature can be purged of these sanitarians without restriction.

This is a true wolf genocide, and we must URGENTLY rise to their defense before they are exterminated completely.

1. Scientific data are ignored, scientists are not listened to, and the destruction of wolves is only being deliberately increased.
2. Wolf packs are deliberately fragmented, leaders and strong individuals are killed, provoking lone wolves and small groups to move toward people. Such wolves can no longer obtain food in the wild, they live at garbage dumps, attack livestock, and try to survive.
3. This becomes the justification that “there are too many wolves, the scale of killings must be increased,” because wolves are seen more often, and therefore the logic works like this: if we see them more often, that means there are too many of them.

Solitary wolves also begin to breed with stray dogs, hybridization appears (I have written separate materials about this), and this destroys wolves at the genetic level. In addition, it is precisely such hybrids that later begin to conflict with people, because they cannot live in the wild due to dog blood, but they also do not return to people because of wolf blood. This is a HUGE problem right now. The genotype of the true wild wolf is being eroded. Moreover, when packs are whole and stable, no hybridization is observed; this occurs only through human fault as a defensive mechanism against extermination.

And it is precisely solitary wolves, whose packs were slaughtered by people, that usually attack livestock out of desperation. I studied an additional scientific paper entitled “Why do wolves eat livestock?: Factors influencing wolf diet in northern Italy,” which was conducted in 2016.

I will quote:

“Wolf populations are usually structured into stable packs and lone individuals. Packs are formed by an adult pair, their offspring, and other related individuals, that is, offspring from previous years, and sometimes adopted animals. Lone wolves, by contrast, are wandering individuals who may temporarily establish themselves in territories where packs are absent. In general, lone wolves are young individuals dispersing after leaving the pack, but they can also be adults that have moved far from their original pack as a result of its disintegration or separation for a number of reasons, such as destruction by humans, low prey availability and the associated rise in aggressiveness, as well as the natural death of the dominant pair (Mech and Boitani, 2003).

Packs are formed in areas with high prey availability, because only a high abundance of preferred prey can reduce aggression among pack members and prevent pack breakup. Dispersing and wandering individuals use territories where wolf packs are absent; such areas can be regarded as suboptimal habitats because of low prey availability, high levels of human disturbance, and possibly potential conflicts with local people. The destruction of wolves can break up packs, increasing the number of wandering individuals and breeding pairs, which can have a more noticeable impact, in particular on livestock husbandry.”

These are the conclusions of scientists. I also remind you that according to modern scientific data, packs almost always break apart after members of their families are killed. Especially the leading individuals! That is, by shooting wolves and organizing roundups, people provoke pack disintegration, their movement toward settlements, and all the problems that are then used to justify even greater extermination of wolves.

Very important.

So far there are not enough resources and time to launch the project. We have already developed the infrastructure on the website, prepared the necessary data, and are ready to begin work in defense of wolves — it is necessary to take on local problems in a targeted way, as well as to purposefully and systematically seek changes at the legislative level!

We have an action plan and we will try to begin work in the very near future. We will need your support, your participation, allies! There is no one else left to fight for the wolf, the sanitarian of the wild.

© PAVEL PASHKOV