WOLF & CO 2020 - 7th International Symposium on Canids

What happens, when a large predator returns into his former habitat after many decades of absence? How does this change the ecosystem? How can people learn to live with the big canid? In Germany we have been asking these Questions since the return of the wolf in the year 2000.

The reintroduction of 34 wolves into Yellowstone National Park (USA) 20 years ago was one of the first and most successful reintroduction projects of the world. It answers many of these questions and teaches us about the challenges, chances and risks of living with wolves. What can we learn from the success as well as the failures that were made in Yellowstone?

Since 1995 I watch the Yellowstone-wolves several weeks and months each year and volunteer for the wolf project. My lecture focuses on two main subjects:

The most important requirements for a successful coexistence of men and wolf are information and education. The public has to be informed early and constantly about

a) the behavior of wild wolves in a human dominated infrastructure and

b) the importance of the wolf for the ecosystem.

This has to be done at eye level and in a language, that everybody understands.

As a longtime guide and organizer of wolf watching tours in Yellowstone I report from my own experience about the chances and risks of wolf tourism.