The alps are essentially the centre of western Europe, while the Carpathians are the centre of eastern europe.
Falling into a group of countries, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia and Switzerland the Alps are a completely sanitized wilderness. The return of wolves to these mountains will rewild this area, and will create a wonderful safe population from which wolves can move back into all the countries around.
Should the wolf population of the Alps continue to grow as fast as they currently are, it will present a fantastic backstop for the population as a whole. This is because, with wolves able to cover 30 miles or more a day, which means that within a weeks they can travel into much of all the countries around this huge mountain range.
As with everywhere it is found, the fact that the wolf is returning to the Alps should be celebrated, not feared. If you take a holiday in the Alps, you are incredibly unlikely to meet a wolf, indeed those who study these animals rarely encounter them. Never-the-less, as they migrate into areas around the Alps, there will be a quick impact on local fauna behaviour. One of the most rapid and big bonuses, is the rapid reduction of collisions caused by herbivores such as deer – we need to find a way to channel some of these savings into a fund to compensate farmers for their losses, this way the whole economy gains.
