Meet the first ever wolf-friendly town in Hungary!

In the past few years, lots of large carnivores settled down near the Hungarian town of Füzér, which has around 430 inhabitants. By now, there is probably a bigger pack of wolves and lynxes, which is why the local authorities decided to help the animals with a field of land on the border of the village designated specifically to them.

According to Sokszínű Vidék, the local government decided to assign 3500 hectares of land to the predators, in order to protect their habitat.

The decision came a few weeks after a couple of wolves killed a 1.5-quintal bull calf barely a hundred metres from the gardens, in an enclosed area. This proves that there is probably a larger pack living near the town. 

Jenő Horváth, the mayor of the town, revealed that the local government approved the decision, but they need the Ministry of Agriculture’s permission to reassign the area. Therefore, they contacted Minister of Agriculture István Nagy.

According to the mayor, their proposed solution would protect both the animals’ living space and the farmers’ properties. An additional aspect to consider is that the town is visited every year by circa 100,000 tourists because of the Füzér Castle and the National Kéktúra trail.

By designating an area to the lynxes, wolves, and maybe even bears, tourists could get to know how these animals live and understand the importance of protecting them.

Jenő Horváth proposed that there could be an educational trail or other interactive methods that would teach children about these large carnivores. 

In Hungary, wolves disappeared a little after World War I and reappeared again in the 1980s. They have been protected animals since 1993, and specially protected since 2001.

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Source: sokszinuvidek.24.hu