Wolves return to Europe: what to do about them is a people problem

Wolves are making a comeback across Europe. As their populations grow, 65,000 livestock are killed each year by wolves. Now, moves are underway to change the protection status of the wolf in the European Union. In this episode we speak to a social scientist researching the best ways for humans and wolves to coexist.

Featuring Hanna Pettersson, a postdoctoral research associate at the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity at the University of York in the UK and Jack Marley, environment and energy editor at The Conversation in the UK.

This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood with production assistance from Mend Mariwany. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. The executive producer is Gemma Ware. Full credits available here. A transcript will be available shortly.

Sign up to Imagine, a newsletter from The Conversation in which researchers imagine a world where climate action is the norm.

Further reading and listening:

Wolf protection in Europe has become deeply political – Spain’s experience tells us whyWolves are returning to European farmland – but they’re not motivated by a taste for sheepEurope has a wolf problem, and a late Norwegian philosopher had the solutionWolf restoration in Colorado shows how humans are rethinking their relationships with wild animals