Minimum wolf numbers for nature reserves. Monitoring of hunting and commercial mammals

And these are not the first reports this year about the determination of regional authorities to curb the ravenous appetite that is allegedly causing multimillion-dollar losses national economy RF. The geography of mass shootings of wolves covers almost the entire Siberia and in some places already reaches the European part of Russia.

In fact, there is a war of man against the wolf in the country. What actually caused it, who will be the true winner in it? And is the game worth the candle...

Bullet, poison, budget

Special measures to shoot wolves, with the allocation of millions of rubles from regional budgets for this, were taken this winter in Transbaikalia (here the authorities turned to the Russian government with a request to allow them). Bonus to hunters for one killed predator.

At the beginning of the year, there was even a question about wolf hunting in Yakutia, but the matter was limited to the announcement of a three-month wolf shooting campaign, which started on January 15. A state of emergency due to wolves was introduced.

The wolf danger is not limited only to the northern and eastern regions of the country. In February, local hunters organized raids on predators in the surrounding steppes.

The problem of wolves has not reached the federal level, it seems, only because the new “Regulations on federal state hunting supervision” (including, among other things, rules for spending federal budgetary allocations) was approved by the government only on January 25 of this year.

How many wolves are there in Russia

According to the latest census of wild animals conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2010, two years ago we had almost 50 thousand wolves. Is it a lot or a little?

According to indirect estimates (the number of killed predators), there were the same number of wolves in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries - no more than 50 thousand in 1901. Their numbers began to grow during the years of the civil war and the devastation that followed. At the same time, their habitat expanded, wolves began to be found where they had not been before.

At the height of collectivization, in the early 1930s, their number exceeded 100 thousand, and then their mass shooting began. From 20 to 37 thousand wolves were killed per year, and in a few years their numbers were brought to “pre-revolutionary” levels. There were fewer wolves, but it was not possible to return them to their former habitat.

The second outbreak of wolf numbers occurred during the Great Patriotic War. According to some estimates, their number reached 150 thousand, and this was clearly too much: wolves began to attack people. Contrary to popular belief about the danger of wolves to people, man-eating wolves were already forgotten by the middle of the twentieth century. Therefore, in 1947, a special government commission was organized, headed by zoologist professor and Stalin Prize winner Pyotr Manteuffel, to check the workers’ complaints. The commission then documented several dozen cases of wolf attacks on people with fatal consequences.

The measures taken - shooting predators and using poisoned baits - reduced the number of wolves by the 1960s by five times, and by the early 1970s the wolf was practically exterminated in the European part of the country. Subsequently, its numbers fluctuated around average size at 30 thousand. And by 1991, Russia arrived with 22.5 thousand wolves.

In 1999, according to the Central Scientific Research Laboratory of Glavokhota, there were already 47.3 thousand, and according to the 2010 census of the Ministry of Natural Resources - 49.3 thousand.

What damage do wolves cause?

There have been no documented cases of wolf attacks on humans in the last 20 years in Russia.

“Village residents and even huntsmen encounter a wolf on average once every seven years, and wolves always try to hide from humans,” says game biologist and wolf specialist Viktor Bologov.

But economic damage from wolves is significant. According to a certificate sent to RIA Novosti on behalf of Anton Bersenev, director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Field of Hunting and Wildlife of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, “every year in Russia about 370 thousand wild ungulates die from wolves alone (34 thousand moose, 140 thousand northern deer, 123 thousand roe deer, 40 thousand wild boars), almost three million hares and 70 thousand beavers, as well as various farm animals with a total biomass of about 400 tons. At the same time, the amount of damage to the Russian economy reaches about 20 billion rubles per year.”

“Direct economic damage from wolf predation, in particular in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), amounted to 150 million rubles in 2012, not counting the lost increase in livestock and livestock products,” the certificate says. Therefore, the 8.3 million rubles allocated from the republican budget “to attract and stimulate wolf hunters” do not look like excessive spending.

Well, hare, wait a minute!

The absolute figures for the economic damage caused by wolves are impressive, but they give a somewhat distorted picture of what is actually happening in nature.

140 thousand reindeer, which, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, are killed annually by wolves, of course, is a lot, but, according to the same Ministry of Natural Resources, there are 900-950 thousand wild (not domestic) reindeer in Russia. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of domestic reindeer in the country, since owners prefer not to advertise the number of their herds.

According to various expert estimates, there are from 1.2 million to 2 million domesticated reindeer in Russia. Thus, the total number of deer is at least 2 million, and damage from wolves is 7%. For a wild herd this is not critical, but for the owner of a domestic herd it is expensive: the weight of one deer is more than 200 kg, and you can sell it for meat at a wholesale price of about 100 rubles per kg.

“Wild deer often take their domestic ones with them, and losses are attributed to wolves,” recalls Viktor Bologov.

As for the 125 thousand roe deer that were slaughtered, there are also almost a million of them in Russia. The population of moose and beavers is more than 600 thousand individuals of each animal. There are more than 400 thousand wild boars. Someone needs to regulate their numbers, culling the old and sick from the population. This is what wolves do.

As for the losses of 400 tons of farm animal meat due to ravenous appetite, this figure does not seem astronomical if you know that even the import of horse meat, which is quite exotic for Russia, is 26.5 thousand tons per year, not to mention beef, pork, lamb and poultry. Domestic beef production, for example, is 1.7 million tons. Have you compared?

There is a special story with hares, which wolves eat, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, at the rate of three million a year. There are a little more than 4 million hares in Russia, hare and white hare, and this number has remained the same for the last hundred years. You understand what will happen if the wolves are killed all. In two to three years, the hares will multiply so much that they will gnaw everything in the villages.

Fortunately, rabbit Armageddon does not threaten us. As the first month of a three-month wolf shooting campaign in Yakutia, where the most money is paid for predators, showed, there were , and the target figures are unlikely to be achieved (the task was set to reduce the local number of wolves from 2.3 thousand to 500).

With a high degree of confidence, we can predict that the number of wolves in the country will be reduced, probably to the same 20-30 thousand individuals with which it began. recent history our state.

But there are unlikely to be even fewer wolves. First of all, someone has to look after the hares. Secondly, none of the hunters, being in their right mind, would kill all the wolves to such a number that they would fit into the Red Book. Who will then give him a premium of 30 thousand rubles for one single predator?

Predators such as the wolf, jackal, jungle cat, raccoon and others do not suffer much damage due to the changes in environmental conditions that we discussed earlier. The hooded crow, magpie, and marsh harrier also show enviable vitality; they are able to maintain their habitat in the most difficult conditions. As a result, the number of some predators in the republic has increased significantly. Letters, telegrams, signals received by the board of the Azerbaijan Society of Hunters and Amateur Fishermen and the Republican Committee for Nature Conservation indicate the great damage predators cause to livestock, poultry farming, and hunting fauna. Rural institutions, collective farms, state farms, as well as individual citizens report with alarm about cases of animals being exterminated by wolves, and about the invasion of predators into villages and farmsteads. As for serious losses of hunting fauna, this record is not kept anywhere. Harsh winters aggravate these losses. It should also be noted that the wolf, jackal, hoodie, and magpie are “frost-resistant” predators; cold does not frighten them; on the contrary, it benefits them. Predators easily take over exhausted prey.

The most dangerous among them is the wolf. The fight against this predator has always been of concern to people. It has been going on for centuries, one might say, all over the world. But it was not always possible to reduce the number of these predators to the desired limit. A person constantly suffered material damage from them, or even became a victim himself.

In folklore, in fairy tales, parables, and proverbs that have accumulated centuries of folk experience, the wolf has invariably been condemned. In the old days, people suffered a lot from this predator. There is a lot of written evidence of this. A number of chronicle sources report wolf attacks on people. From the information provided by various pre-revolutionary authors, it is clear that wolf packs carried out attacks in individual provinces; there were cases when they killed dozens of unarmed people in a day. In 1807, in Tartu volost, a pair of predators tore to pieces fifty people. There are reports that in 1843, wolves tore to pieces three soldiers and three women in Simbirsk, wounded five residents on the streets of Kharkov, and attacked six people in the Moscow province returning from the field. These predators posed a particular danger to children. In many countries it was necessary to wage the most merciless fight against the wolf.

In a number of densely populated European countries, it was possible to reduce their number to a minimum or completely exterminate them. The last wolf in England was killed at the beginning of the 16th century, in Ireland - in the 17th century. There was no longer this predator left in Belgium and Italy; the appearance of the wolf in France was perceived as an extraordinary fact. A special bonus was awarded for the shooting of each wolf.

Let us make a reservation that we are talking about a certain historical period when the extermination of this predator was caused by a specific situation in the regions and was not based on clearly verified scientific calculations and a differentiated approach. In the last decades of our century, the situation has changed, and thanks to international environmental measures, a more reasonable, thoughtful attitude to the issue of regulating the number of wolves has been established. Now it is being exterminated in its entirety, as in many countries. Western Europe, and in other parts of the range would be unanimously perceived as unforgivable ignorance.

By the middle of the last century, the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs ordered his officials to study the experience of fighting wolves in Europe and implement it in the country, taking into account the great troubles caused by predators. In 1841, this ministry raised the issue with the government about establishing a monetary reward for those who shot wolves. A circular was prepared on the formation of huntsman brigades for shooting wolves and conducting raids everywhere. According to the circular, 3 rubles were given for the extermination of each wolf, and one and a half rubles (in silver) for a wolf cub. At that time this was a significant amount. In addition, each volost had one or more full-time rangers with an annual salary of 60 rubles. A full-time huntsman was charged with exterminating 15 wolves or 30 wolf cubs annually.

Despite these measures, the number of wolves grew. According to official data, in the 70s of the last century, the annual damage caused by wolves to livestock in Russia amounted to more than 6 million rubles! In 1873, in only 45 provinces located in the European part of Russia, wolves destroyed 179 thousand heads of cattle and 562 thousand small cattle. By the beginning of this century, the fight against wolves had weakened sharply.

In 1924-1925, wolves in the USSR exterminated up to a million heads of livestock annually. During the Great Patriotic War the number of wolves has increased sharply, and the damage from them has increased accordingly.

Many wolves also lived on the territory of Azerbaijan in 1940-1945. These predators, attacking villages, killed animals in front of women and children. One can imagine the severity of these disasters for a villager during the war years.

Wolves sense an armed person well and tend to stay away from him. But they are not afraid of an unarmed person. Moreover, it happens that they strive to get closer to him, if not for carnivorous reasons, then at least to demonstrate their aggressiveness.

Here is one curious episode with wolves. This village was located near the Kura. After the flood, a thick layer of silt settled in the floodplain; no animal could break through the impassable slurry. Somehow it turned out that the calf, moving to a watering place to the Kura, got stuck in the mud. No matter how hard they tried, they could not rescue the calf. It got dark, everyone went home. The next morning they rushed to the swamp: somehow there was a calf there? But... he was not found on the spot. Where he got stuck, a wolf's head was sticking out of the mud! It turned out that at night the wolf, having attacked the calf and pushed it to the shore, got stuck in the mud up to its neck...

And subsequently there were curious encounters with wolves, but each time the matter ended in a peaceful separation.

Soon after the war, there seemed to be fewer wolves, and statistics show that at that time 200 thousand predators were registered, and then their number rapidly increased. The damage they cause has also increased significantly.

Subsequently, the fight against wolves acquired an all-Union scale, and hunting unions were involved in it. The annual shooting of predators amounted to about 50 thousand, and over several years the total total reached half a million specimens.

There is a well-known saying that our shortcomings are a continuation of our strengths. In relation to the fight against the wolf, something similar to the essence of this judgment occurred. The shooting of a wolf, dictated by the environmental situation and the unacceptability of the amount of damage it causes, has crossed that shaky, changeable line beyond which the wolf becomes a powerless outcast of nature. In the monograph “Wolf”, published under the editorship of Dr. biological sciences D.I. Bibikov in 1985, we read: “Over the past 30 years, numbers of ungulates have sharply increased in many populations... with a simultaneous progressive decline in wolf density... In the Voronezh Reserve in 1956, wolf litters within its borders were already there wasn't. In Darvinsky, Oksky, Mordovian and others this happened in the mid-late 50s, although until the early 60s wolves entered nature reserves, but significant influence there was no impact on the population of victims... The program for the complete destruction of the wolf in a number of reserves was replaced by the regulation of its numbers. In many areas across the vast territory of the country, the fight against wolves has weakened. This caused a new wave of growth in its numbers..."

The reduction in the number of ungulates, according to the specific data given in this work, changed accordingly, however, “fluctuations in the total natural mortality of ungulates... occurred in a much smaller amplitude than could be expected in connection with the destruction of wolves... With the restoration of the wolf... The loss of ungulate populations from its hunting activity increased by 6-30 times, but the overall mortality rate was only one and a half to two times. Thus, the almost complete extermination of wolves in nature reserves and the restoration of their numbers in subsequent years did little to change the level of natural losses... In this case, L. Slobodkin’s concept was confirmed... about “prudent” predation, according to which the predator removes those individuals from the population of prey , which even without it would be maximally exposed to destructive factors.”

The authors of the monograph “Wolf” cite two polar points of view on the nature of wolf predation: some argue for selectivity in the choice of victims, a “sanitary” or “selective” role, others “believe that wolves remove healthy and strong individuals from populations of ungulates.”

Of course, it is impossible to absolutize one or another point of view without taking into account the specific environmental situation. By the way, the reckless implementation of the “sanitary” concept at one time had a negative impact on practice.

There were even voices demanding that the “offenders” of the predator be brought to justice. For example, the case when a shepherd used a pitchfork to kill a wolf that had burst into a sheepfold and tore apart 40 sheep gave the impression of sensational cruelty. The article, which demanded that this shepherd be brought to trial, was welcomed by many. The wolf “won” the right to immunity. And that's all he needed. Soon the wolf army grew sharply and exceeded its former numbers. The she-wolves were able to safely raise litters, each time consisting of four to eight cubs.

According to calculations by a group of biologists, in one specific area, before 1969, the number of wolves was 2-2.1 thousand, and in 1977 - 7.2 thousand, calculated at 30 million rubles. According to experts, judging by the above indicators, the damage to game fauna is four times greater than the damage to livestock farms. The “sanitary”, or rather, selective function of the wolf must be approached on the basis of real calculations about the dynamics of their populations and their prey. Where these ratios have exceeded the optimal line, no allowances should be made for the wolf, dressing him in “sheep’s clothing”, in which the dangerously growing wolf outrages could be hidden. The selective role of this predator as one of the manifestations of the mechanism of natural selection, as a factor in its implementation natural law no one can object to it. But we cannot be indifferent to the scale of such manifestations, to the pressing situation that requires energetic intervention.

In 1985, according to the Azerbaijan State Committee for Nature Protection, the number of wolves in the republic was 4,660. (According to the monograph mentioned above, in 1980 there were 2.5 thousand wolves.) This means that on average there are 54 wolves! If we exclude the highlands, densely populated and industrial areas, it is easy to assume that the wolf density is even higher. Therefore, today the task in relation to the situation in the republic is to limit the number of wolves to optimal limits.

So, it is obvious to all of us that the complete extermination of wolves would be a mistake. But the position of complacent non-intervention is also erroneous, when in some areas tens of millions of rubles in damage to livestock are caused, and even more to the hunting fauna. It is clear that in natural habitats, in nature reserves, game reserves and any protected areas, it is necessary to identify the number of wolves and, by correlating their numbers with the number of ungulates, it is reasonable to reduce the number of predators to optimal limits.

The magazine “Science and Life” in the June 1985 issue returned to this issue again in the article by R. Fedorov “Talk about the Wolf.” “How should we treat a wolf in nature reserves?” the author of the article asks his competent interlocutor, Candidate of Biological Sciences G. A. Noskov. Here's what he replies:

“...Here we are obliged to take care of the conservation of all species of animals native to this region. Everyone - that means the wolf too"

And then there is a story about a case when “freeloaders” appeared at the wolf’s prey - the carcass of an elk he had killed: “... a golden eagle sat on the carcass, then a white-tailed eagle landed... Walking around the carcass, I noticed traces of a marten... As you can see, here we cannot limit ourselves to considering only two components: the predator and its prey. A complex system of side relationships is revealed here. The meat of killed elk is fed to birds, including rare ones, the protection of which we take great care of, foxes, and a number of representatives of the mustelid family. Wolf hunting provides an additional and, perhaps, very important chance for their survival, especially in times of famine. And I think if we remove the wolf from the natural ecological system of the reserve, it will no longer be completely natural, but to some extent already anthropogenic...”

However, according to the biologist, all this “does not at all remove the issue of intensifying the fight against the wolf in hunting grounds, and especially where it causes damage to livestock.”

Let's not forget that each reserve has its own specifics, its own environmental strategy. In the Nizhne-Svirsky Nature Reserve, some gentle restrictions are probably expected in the fight against wolves due to the reasons mentioned by the scientist. But what about wolves, say, in the Shirvan Nature Reserve, designed to increase the population of the Red Book-protected goitered gazelle? There aren’t so many of them to allow wolves to run rampant here for the sake of their predatory “freeloaders,” even protected and rare species?.. It seems that this would be an unaffordable luxury, for which one would have to pay dearly.

The same journal article provides an interesting judgment about a certain, so to speak, self-regulation of the number of wolves on the territory of another reserve - Teberdinsky. Reserve employee I.V. Tkachenko, who continues the work of his father, biologist V.I. Tkachenko, says: “Over the years of my observations, the number of wolves remains at the same level that was noted by my father - six to eight individuals... And they all still stick together in one flock. So the pressure of predators on ungulates and other inhabitants of the reserve that may become their victims remains constant and in no way threatens the existence of the species living here. But it is very possible that some of the young wolves who grew up in the pack separate from it and go outside the reserve. There they can cause harm, and there, in hunting and agricultural lands, a wolf should probably be treated like a wolf...”

So, there is a remarkable fact: self-regulation of the number of predators in a certain area. Without any human intervention. The reserve employee does not mention a word about shooting wolves or other restrictive measures. Such self-regulation is an ideal option for the reserve. But the experience of conservation activities shows that nature does not always provide such a convenient ecological opportunity. Why? Probably because often the new generation of predators simply has nowhere to leave the reserve. In Teberda, a mountainous area not so densely covered with a network of settlements and agricultural areas, for example, there is still room for the wolf to roam. And where can he go from the Kyzylagach or Shirvan reserve, even if it is not very convenient for him to live there? On one side there is the sea, on the other - well maintained land, state and collective farm plantations, the roar of combines and tractors, the highway, the railroad... You can, of course, make a hidden marathon trek to the south, into the Talysh forests, or to the northwest, into the mountains. But even there the wolves are cramped...

Thus, while agreeing with the possibility of self-regulation of wolf numbers in nature reserves, it won’t be long before these territories begin to play the role, whether we like it or not, of a kind of “suppliers”, “exporters” of the wolf. Let's look at the matter from an economic point of view: it is much more profitable for the state to stop the spread of this predator at the very beginning, in the outbreak, than to then waste the efforts of hundreds and thousands of rangers and hunters and allocate substantial sums for rewards for shooting each wolf!

So, it is necessary to intelligently regulate the number of wolves, based on scientifically based standards for their shooting.

It is known that a lone wolf in some cases mates with feral dogs. Such pairs produce offspring of hybrid predators, not much different from wolves. In many countries, livestock farming suffers great damage from these wolf hybrids, which live in natural conditions with their predatory relatives and are no less dangerous. I can’t help but remember the proverb: “A dog that sniffs with a wolf, more dangerous than a wolf" This is true. Hybrid predators are not afraid of humans, obeying the instinct of a “domestic” parent. When they see people, they run up to them like dogs, and the purebred wolf, following the “half-breed,” not suspecting the true background of this impulse, goes on the attack...

There are many such hybrids that have grown in our country. There is no fight against dog-wolves, which do not represent environmental value. And the damage to farms and nature is obvious. There is only one way out - their complete extermination.

Hunting wolves is not an easy task. The wolf manages to hide even from observation from a helicopter. Confident of his invisibility, he freezes in place. Many technical means are used in wolf hunting.

As already noted, a wolf instantly recognizes an armed person and senses the danger posed by him. During raids, despite the noise and the fact that every inch is combed, the wolf does not leave its shelter. And if he still has to run, he tries to avoid the ambush. If a jackal or a fox passes by, the wolf lets them ahead by 50-60 meters and only then continues on its way.

Wolves are distributed very unevenly within their range. Their distribution throughout the territory is determined by the abundance and stability of food supplies, primarily wild and domestic ungulates, and the possibilities of obtaining them, which in winter depend on the depth and looseness of the snow cover.

On Kola Peninsula in the second half of the last century, the wolf was very rare, which depended on the decrease in the number of wild reindeer and the reduction in herds of domestic reindeer among the Sami (Lapps). Wolves were relatively numerous at that time on the border with Sweden and Norway and in their eastern regions, where wild deer, and domestic reindeer husbandry was in better condition. In the Lapland Nature Reserve in 1929-1938. There were none at all, and only later did they begin to disturb the herds of wild reindeer. In the winter of 1940/41, only 3 wolves lived in the reserve on an area of ​​1300 km².

In the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic they constantly live in the southern regions most populated by humans. In some years, they are numerous in the Prionezh and Olonets regions and in Zaonezhye, in sparsely forested areas of the republic, especially along the White Sea coast. In the Segezhsky region, the wolf is rare, and in the deep-snow northern regions of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Belomorsky, Kemsky and Loukhsky) it does not live permanently, appearing periodically, every 5-10 years. The appearance is associated with the movement of herds of domestic deer here or the arrival of wild ones.

In the tundra and forest-tundra of the European part of the USSR, wolves are relatively numerous; They make seasonal migrations, going to the tundra in the summer, and to the forest-tundra in the winter. In the Mezensky region, there are few wolves in summer and many in winter, since some migrants from the Kaninsky tundra approach the local sedentary ones. In the summer, only a few pairs remain, raising wolf cubs in the Koydinskaya tundra (Abramovsky shore of the Mezen Bay) and along the northern tributaries of the Nesya. Wolves are found on the Kanin Peninsula all year round. By the beginning of winter, most wolves migrate to the forest-tundra; some enter the Mezen region, and the bulk winter on the southern coast of the Czech Bay. Wolves from the Timan tundra also come here. In summer, in the vast expanse of the Czech Bay from the village of Nesi to Nizhnyaya Pesha, no more than 3-4 pairs of wolves remain (along the Vitas, Oma, and Snope rivers).

In the Timan and Malozemelskaya tundras, wolves burrow along the rivers Wolong, Travyanka, Shchuchya, Indiga, Belaya, Svetlaya, Kamennaya Viska, Velti, Neruta, Sula and its tributaries. In the Timan and Malozemelskaya tundras, wolves stick to the Timan ridge in the summer; in the coastal part they appear extremely rarely.

In the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, there are no wolves during the breeding season in the coastal strip about 100 km wide, where there are few suitable places for lairs, and in the summer herds of domestic reindeer graze with numerous dogs. Wolves burrow in the basins of the upper reaches of the Shapkina, Kuk, Lai and Kolva rivers ( western part Bolshezemelskaya tundra), along the upper reaches of the Adzva, Bolshaya Rogovaya and Chernaya rivers (central part) and along the Pai-Khoi ridge and the upper reaches of Korotayka, Silovaya and Kara (eastern part). For the winter, from the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, most wolves migrate to the forest-tundra, from the Pechora bend to the upper reaches of the Usa; part goes beyond the Urals.

In general, there are fewer wolves in the European tundra than in the Arkhangelsk taiga. In the Timan tundra, over an area of ​​10 thousand km², only 10 wolves were found, or 1 wolf per 1000 km². By autumn, with successful breeding, the population here would be 2.8 wolves per 1000 km².

In the taiga forests of the Arkhangelsk region, wolves are common in the southern and central regions - in the basins of the Northern Dvina and Onega. Along the valleys of these rivers, and sometimes the Pinega, single and groups of wolves run to the north. In the Priozerny region for 1947-1952. the number in autumn did not exceed 40-45 individuals (3 wolves per 1000 km²). In the Arkhangelsk region, the wolf prefers places where the taiga is sparse with clearings, forests are crossed by roads, and near villages there are large areas of fields, floodplains and forest reaps, since in winter it finds food only near humans. In other northern regions with developing agriculture, the number of wolves is also increasing, and their habitat is expanding to the north.

Wolves are rare in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In the taiga they are found only in river valleys and lake depressions. More common in the agricultural landscape of the southern taiga subzone and in the tundra. For 12.5 years (1939-1950) in the Komi ASSR, only 343 wolf skins were harvested. The average annual harvest per 100 km² in the taiga ranges from 0 to 0.01 pcs.; in areas with agricultural and other open land - from 0.01 to 0.06 pcs.

In the Urals, wolves are most numerous in the tundra, forest-steppe and steppes; Their distribution there is closely related to human settlements. In the remote taiga there are few or no wolves.

In the Yamalo-Nenets national In the area, the wolf is found almost everywhere, but dens mainly in the southern zone of the tundra, in the forest-tundra and tundra open forest. In winter it lives in close proximity to herds of domestic reindeer and is therefore very rare in the Arctic tundra. In the taiga it appears only occasionally in the Krasnoselkup region and in southern parts Purovsky, Nadymsky and Shuryshkarsky districts. Over the decade (1948-1957), 1,166 wolf skins were harvested in the district (from 85 to 157 per year).

IN Western Siberia The number of wolves is high in the southern tundra, forest-tundra, southern taiga, birch forest-steppe and steppe. The northern and middle parts of the taiga zone are characterized by a low number of wolves in the west (areas west of the lower and middle reaches of the Irtysh and lower reaches of the Ob). Wolves enter the area between the lower Irtysh and middle Ob rivers only in some years. So, in Surgut region in 20 years, only 2 wolves were killed; in Vasyugan, in 12 years, only 2 visits were recorded. No one has observed wolves breeding in these areas.

Somewhat unexpectedly, the northeastern maximum of wolf numbers in Western Siberia occurs in the region with the maximum depth of snow cover, but it is characterized by dense snow cover and an abundance of wild and domestic reindeer. In the south, areas with a high population density of wolves coincide with places with a high population of roe deer, areas of developed livestock farming and uneven snow cover.

Along the Yenisei in the taiga zone, the wolf is rare everywhere until Turukhansk. In the forest-tundra (north of 76° N), the number of wolves increases noticeably. Places where wolves are concentrated in the tundra are confined to areas where domestic reindeer herds graze or wild reindeer camps. Wolves are common at the mouth of the Yenisei; at times there are a lot of them in the lower reaches of Olenek, Yana and Lena. There are few wolves in central and southern Yakutia, but there are more of them in the Verkhoyansk Territory, and in Kolyma and Chukotka there are relatively many wolves. They are common in Anadyr. On the Lyakhovsky Islands, the wolf, closely associated with the reindeer in the tundra, is found only in the summer and migrates to the mainland in the winter to follow the reindeer herds.

In the taiga zone of Central Siberia, in the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska basin, wolves are most numerous in the upper reaches of the Khatanga - Kotu I, Vilyuya, Moyero and the northern tributaries of the Lower Tunguska, where large herds of domestic deer graze. Along the Podkamennaya Tunguska, the lower reaches and southern tributaries of the Lower Tunguska, there are few wolves due to the deep and loose snow cover and the small number of domestic and wild ungulates. Wolves usually appear here only on short time. This area of ​​low numbers and inconsistent habitat on the right bank of the Yenisei almost coincides with the same minimum number of wolves in Western Siberia (the interfluve of the Ob, Taz and Yenisei).

In the Leno-Khatanga region, wolves are common along the Olenek and along the Muna, a tributary of the Lena. In the Vilyui basin, the wolf is rare, and its numbers increase only beyond the Arctic Circle (according to Olenek). But in the Vilyuya Valley itself, wolves are relatively numerous. In central and southern Yakutia, as well as the Kolyma-Indigirsky region, the wolf is rare even in populated areas or is found only sporadically, but is common in the tundra and forest-tundra.

In the taiga zone of Eastern Siberia, in the Sayan Mountains and Altai, there are few wolves due to deep snow. Predators appear here only in those areas where domestic or wild ungulates are abundant and where thinning or clearing of forests by humans has contributed to a decrease in the looseness and depth of the adjacent cover. In Altai and the Sayan Mountains, wolves are few in number and in most areas appear only by chance. In the mountains in the fall they follow the roe deer down into the valleys where the snow is lower and denser.

In Eastern Siberia, wolves are very abundant along the border with Mongolian Republic; in the southern Baikal region, near Irkutsk, they are common in areas along railway(Baikal region, Transbaikalia). Predators are rare or absent in the northern and few southern taiga deep-snow regions.

In the taiga Far East The wolf is also rare in all deep-snow regions, especially those little developed by humans. In places where there is an abundance of wild or domestic ungulates, in areas where the taiga is largely thinned out by logging, wolves are common. In Primorye, predators are rare - along the Iman (Ussuri Territory) they are found mainly in the lower reaches.

In the central and southern zone of the European part of the USSR, including the Baltic states, wolves are rare. Their number increased during the war of 1941 - 1945, but as a result of intensified fighting, it has now been reduced again. In Belarus, the wolf is found everywhere. In 1932-1939. it was most numerous in the Minsk region, and then in the Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk regions.

In the central black earth regions, wolves were quite common until recently. Relatively high numbers in 1951-1953. noted in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions.

In the south of Bashkiria, on the outskirts of mountainous forest landscapes in the forest-steppe, there were few wolves in the 30s. Around 1950 they were found quite often, but in the upland broad-leaved forests in winter they became scarce. The number of wolves here is sharply declining. In the Volga-Kama region, the number of wolves has been falling all the time from 1950 to 1965. In Tatarstan for the five years 1960-1964. On average, 170 wolf skins were harvested per year.

In Ukraine, wolves multiplied during the war of 1941-1945. In 1947-1949 their number throughout Ukraine reached approximately 7,000. Their population density was lower where the villages were densely located. After 1945, wolves were numerous in the southern part of the Sumy region (especially in more forested areas). In the Chernigov region, which is very favorable for the habitat of wolves, a large number of them remained all the time and in 1938 110 animals were killed here. After the war, especially many appeared in Chernigov Polesie, less in the forest-steppe and southern regions. In the Kyiv region, predators have become numerous in its northern, forested part. They were occasionally mined in areas bordering the Poltava and Chernigov regions; In the Kyiv region, wolves were recorded in a number of southern regions. In the Zhitomir region, wolves live only in the northern regions, along the borders with Belarus.

In the western regions of Ukraine, the number of wolves is generally small. It is higher in western Polesie, in the Rivne and Volyn regions. Many wolves in mountainous areas b. Stanislavsky region. In Transcarpathia and the Lviv region, the wolf is rare; does not live permanently in the Ternopil region, appearing periodically from the southern regions of the Rivne and northern regions of the Stanislav region. In the Lvov region, wolf litters were recorded only in the Kamensk-Bug, Sokal and Peremyshlya districts. In the Transcarpathian region, they are relatively common in all mountain and lowland areas (except for rocky places in the highlands). Stray wolves were encountered in Viiogradovsky, Uzhgorod, Perechi and Mukachevo regions. In the Drohobych region, wolves are common in mountainous areas; in 1949, broods were met in the Turkovsky and Podbuzsky districts, and strays - in the Strelkovsky and Dorogobyshsky districts.

In the Stanislav region, wolves constantly stay in the southern and southwestern mountainous regions, but also enter the plain. In the Chernivtsi region, wolves constantly stay in five southwestern regions bordering Romania, as well as in the Sakyr and Kalmenets regions, where wolves often come from Moldova.

In the Kamenets-Podolsk region, the northern regions are inhabited by wolves, but there are few animals here. In the Vinnytsia region, wolves were constantly observed only in two southern regions; they penetrate here from Moldova, where there are many wolves. In the Kirovograd region, wolves are more or less constantly found in the Dnieper regions neighboring the Kyiv region. In the Poltava region, wolves live in the eastern regions (adjacent to the Sumy region), and through forests they penetrate to the Mirgorod region; met closer to the Kyiv region).

In the Kharkov region, after the war, wolves multiplied most in the central regions, single broods were found in the Volchansky district, wolf races were noted in the Kupyansky district. In the Lugansk region, wolves were found in 34 districts; There are especially many wolves in the northeastern regions. In six of them, 150 wolves were killed in 1949. In the Donetsk region, wolves are rare and are recorded only in the south. In the Dnepropetrovsk region after the war, animals constantly lived only in the extreme eastern regions. In the Zaporozhye region, wolves live mainly in places near the Dnieper floodplains and occasionally appear in the Berdyansk and Azov regions.

In the Kherson region by 1948-1949. the Tsyurupinsky and Skadovsky districts were densely populated by wolves; there were none on the right bank at all; after 1948 they appeared in the Kherson, Berislav and Novovorontsov regions. In the Nikolaev region, wolves live permanently in the Shirokolanovsky district; strays appear in the western regions. In the Odessa region in the western regions, wolves are common. In 1949-1950 strays were also observed in the central regions. In the Izmail region, wolves live permanently in areas neighboring the Moldavian SSR. There are few wolves in the floodplains of the Dniester. In Crimea, wolves were exterminated, but during the Patriotic War they again penetrated the peninsula; they were soon destroyed.

In the Caucasus, the wolf is distributed everywhere, but not evenly. According to the harvesting data of skins, the largest number per unit area is mined in the Western Ciscaucasia and Eastern Transcaucasia. Per 1000 km2 in the 30s of our century, 11.6 wolves were hunted in Azerbaijan, 9.9 in Armenia, 6.7 in the North Caucasus, 6.7 in Dagestan and 0.8 wolves in Georgia. The lower reaches of the Terek, Sulak, Kuma, and the coast of the Kyzylagach Bay are the least densely populated by wolves. In the alder swamps of Colchis, the wolf is common in the lower reaches of the Gagida, Okum and Pichsra rivers. In the mountainous regions of the Caucasus, the number of wolves is high in the Caucasian, Borjomi, Zagatala and Lagodekhi reserves. In Transcaucasia, there are wolves everywhere, but in the wooded Black Sea coast they are so rare that most of the population have never seen them.

In Kazakhstan, the wolf is found almost everywhere. Its population is highest in the west, in some areas of the Aktobe and Kustanai regions, as well as in the valleys of the Syr Darya, Chu, Ili rivers, in the mountains and foothills of the Zailiysky and Dzungarian Alatau, near lake. Kurgaldzhii, in the Alakul basin, near the lake. Zaisan and in some other places. There are fewer wolves in the northern forest-steppe regions. However, in the former Kustanai district b. Turgai province. in the early 20s, wolf numbers were extremely high. In clayey deserts and semi-deserts, where there is no water, wild ungulates and livestock, these predators are absent or enter there only temporarily. There are no wolves in some mountain taiga regions of southern Altai, for example in the Zyryanovsky district, where the snow cover is high and loose. Total quantity wolves in Kazakhstan are estimated at approximately 25-30 thousand. Every year about 10 thousand wolves are destroyed in Kazakhstan, i.e. a little more than a third of the population.

In Kyrgyzstan, wolves are found everywhere. They are most numerous in the areas of large high-mountain pastures-syrts, since there is not only a lot of livestock here, but large settlements of marmots have been preserved, and in the neighboring ridges there are numerous wild ungulates (argali and goats). Every year in Kyrgyzstan before the Great Patriotic War, up to 400-600 wolf skins were harvested.

There are few wolves in Uzbekistan. In the Kashkadarya region they are rare; in desert areas, even in winter time are rare; numerous in mountainous areas.

In Turkmenistan, the distribution of wolves is limited by the availability of watering places and the abundance and availability of food. In Badkhyz (southern Turkmenistan) there are apparently more wolves than in other regions of Turkmenistan, which is explained by the abundance of wild and domestic ungulates. Radde and Walter also pointed out the special abundance of wolves between Tejen and Murgab. Along the river Kushka wolves often hunt near the very outskirts of villages. On the river There are more wolves in Egri Gek than in Kushka; Although there are no human settlements or livestock here, there are numerous gazelles that come to the river to drink, as well as plentiful watering holes and convenient places for lairs and daytime rest. In Gyaz-Gyadyk, wolves are common throughout the area. There are many wolves along the river. Tejen. In the desert part of Badkhyz, the wolf is everywhere, but is distributed unevenly, concentrating near wells, in places where flocks of sheep graze and near watering places, especially those located no closer than 100-200 m from housing (dugouts). Apparently, on average, 6-7 wolves are associated with one watering point. In winter, wolves are distributed evenly throughout Badkhyz, which is due to a lower need for drinking and wider grazing of sheep flocks. The number of wolves in western Turkmenistan is high, but they are unevenly distributed.

The total number of wolves in the USSR is difficult to determine even approximately, not only due to the lack of data, but also due to the continuous change in their numbers. In the 30s, their number in our country was estimated by a number of authors at 60-80 thousand, which is apparently underestimated. Around the same time, S.A. Buturlin estimated the wolf population at no less than 100,000 heads, and the annual offspring at 47 thousand. After the Patriotic War of 1941-1945. the number of wolves increased markedly, especially in areas affected by the German invasion. After restoration of the damage caused, as a result of intensifying the fight against the wolf and the use of a number of very effective means its extermination (shooting from an airplane, snowmobile, etc.), the number of wolves by the 60s had apparently decreased by at least 3-5 times, and in some places even more. In a number of areas they have disappeared completely. Several general patterns can be established.

IN Russian forests There are currently 50 thousand wolves. According to experts, this is twice as much as is necessary for the normal functioning of the ecosystem. Every year, wolves destroy livestock, causing damage of approximately 10-12 billion rubles.

Russian regions can be divided into three groups. The first consists of those subjects for whom problems with wolves, fortunately, are not relevant - gray predators there are not many there, and sometimes they themselves are guarded. For example, in Kuzbass in 2015 there were only 16 wolves, and in 2016 not a single one was found.

“Since their number is zero, no permits were issued to catch them,” said the head of the department for the protection of fauna. Kemerovo region Pavel Stepanov. Wolves do not bother the residents of the Omsk region either - there are only a little more than a hundred predators in the entire region.

But those regions where the wolf is not a rarity, but a severe enemy, are included in the remaining two groups. All these regions suffer from predators and lose millions of rubles every year. But some are characterized by financial incentives for hunters who hunt predators and thereby regulate their numbers. Others, on the contrary, are characterized by the growth of wolf packs, which are not restrained, since there are no funds for this in the regional budgets.

Thus, Yakutia lost more than 600 million rubles from predator attacks in a year: in 2016, animals destroyed more than 6.8 thousand deer and 140 horses in the republic, which is why there is a significant decrease in the number of livestock in reindeer herding farms. In turn, hunters, with a total number of wolves of approximately 12 thousand individuals, killed 812 predators, which is 15% more than a year earlier.

“There are 40 teams of wolf hunters working in Yakutia. The Sakhabult concern accepts wolf skins from hunters at a price of 20 thousand rubles per adult,” the republic’s hunting resources department clarified.

In Kamchatka, where there is also a program for rewarding hunters for hunting wolves, in 2017 they decided to double its funding. “The bonus for one shot wolf will be, as before, 30 thousand rubles. However, if in the previous three years 1.38 million rubles were allocated for shooting 46 predators, then in 2017 2.25 million rubles will be allocated for shooting 75 animals ", said Vsevolod Voropanov, head of the department of licensing and state hunting registry of the forestry agency of the Kamchatka region.

As in Yakutia, in Kamchatka, reindeer herding farms mainly suffer from wolves - predators destroy 2.5–3 thousand deer annually; in 2013–2014 alone, the damage from them in the region amounted to about 65 million rubles. Scientists recommended increasing wolf production. They calculated that in order to curb the growth of the predator population on the peninsula, but not put them at risk of extinction, it is necessary to shoot about 70–75 animals annually.

“The hunter just needs to bring the skin of the animal to the forestry agency and report the area where it was shot. A special stamp is applied to the skin, which is not erased. Because of this mark, it is no longer possible to hand over the skin again,” Voropanov explained.

No money - expect trouble

But not all regions cope with the dominance of predators. It is especially difficult for those entities that cannot pay the work of wolf hunters or pay them small bonuses. They make up the third group - territories into which predators “grabbed with a wolf’s grip.”

In Tuva, according to game managers, the population of dangerous predators exceeds the norm by 1.6 times: if local scientists consider the number of wolves to be no more than 800 individuals safe, then there are 1.5 thousand animals in the republic. “However, in 2010 there were 2.6 thousand of them, but thanks to an organized company they were eliminated,” experts note, adding that in 2016 they paid 8 thousand rubles for an adult wolf, and 4 thousand rubles for a wolf cub.

“The damage caused by wolves to livestock production in Tuva reaches 30-40 million rubles a year,” the State Committee for Hunting of the Republic added.

But in the Irkutsk region and Trans-Baikal Territory in 2016, hunters were not paid for wolf skins. As a result, there are currently about 5 thousand predators in the Angara region, with a safe threshold for ecological balance of 1.5-2 thousand, and in Transbaikalia - almost 3 thousand. In Transbaikalia, wolf attacks on flocks of sheep, herds of horses and herds of cows occur both in the steppe southeastern regions and in the taiga territories of the western part of the region.

“According to the winter census of 2016, 2,821 wolves live in the Trans-Baikal Territory. The regional budget does not reward hunters for hunting them; as a result, in 2016, 379 wolves were killed in the region, in 2015 - about 350, and, for comparison, in 2013 “When the payments were made, over 1 thousand individuals were caught,” the State Hunting Service of Transbaikalia clarified.

In addition to the lack of finances, without which hunters, unless they themselves work as shepherds or reindeer herders, have little interest in hunting wolves, there are a number of other problems. Thus, according to the senior state inspector of the service for the protection and use of wildlife of the Irkutsk region, Pavel Minchenko, in the Angara region there are not enough experienced hunters, and they are also limited in the choice of hunting tools: wolf hunters cannot use traps, snares and chemicals.

Tighten the loop

“The damage caused by the wolf in Russia, according to Tsentrokhotkontrol, amounts to 12 billion rubles. That is, it is the largest pest agriculture of large mammals,” said zoologist, game warden and writer, editor of the Russian Hunting Journal Mikhail Krechmar. He added that the wolf problem is most relevant for the northern and taiga regions of the Far East, where pasture reindeer husbandry has been preserved on a significant scale.

“At the same time, in areas of intensive herd reindeer husbandry, it is difficult to effectively fight wolves by shooting. One of the best wolf herders in the country, Anton Bersenev, claims that the cost of hunting one wolf in European Russia if you have all the necessary technical equipment (cars, snowmobiles) and a developed road network - at least 1 thousand dollars. In the conditions of reindeer herding regions of the Far East, this cost must be increased at least three times, and in particularly inaccessible areas - five times. I emphasize that this is only if we are talking about shooting.”

According to the expert, regulation of wolf numbers using loops is widespread in Canada and Alaska. However, in Russia this method of fishing is prohibited and invariably causes criticism from environmentalists. So, in December 2016 famous journalist and member of the Advisory Council International Fund Animal Protection IFAW Vladimir Pozner opposed the proposal of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation to allow snare fishing for wolves and jackals.

Posner called the loops a torture device that causes terrible pain to the animal. He also noted that if the number of an animal species is limited, it would be by shooting. Chairman of the Board of the International Fund for Animal Welfare Azzedine Downs is also confident that snare fishing will lead to disastrous consequences, since other species of animals can get caught in a snare placed on a wolf, which can have a particularly negative impact on species listed in the Russian Red Book.

Kretschmar does not share this position. “During my studies in America, I myself took part in activities to control the wolf population using snare fishing. I must say that I did not observe any bycatch of additional species during these activities<…>In addition, I will say that wolf snare fishing in all places where it affects the number of farm animals has not stopped for a minute, despite its prohibition. In most places people just don't know it was banned."

Description of the species and area. A large animal with a fluffy tail (Fig. 57). Body length 1-1.6 m, tail 35-50 cm. The color of forest wolves is gray, usually with a dark “saddle” on the back; tundra wolves They are almost white, while the steppe ones are reddish. It differs from dogs in having a wide muzzle with a convex forehead, usually with a lowered tail (only the leader of the pack keeps his tail raised). Wolf pups have a blunter muzzle than dog puppies, a black stripe along the back and yellowish fluffy fur on the head. Traces large wolves, elongated, print length 10-18 cm, width 5-10 cm. The two middle fingers are pushed forward, so that a match can be placed between their prints and the prints of the two outer fingers. Unlike dog tracks, tracks are usually located in a straight line rather than a broken line. The pack almost always follows the trail, so it is difficult to immediately determine how many wolves have passed.

The wolf is distributed throughout the country, except for some islands, but in the middle zone and in the south of the European part of Russia it is very rare (Fig. 58). In areas with heavy snowy winters, it avoids continuous forests, penetrating into them along roads, hunting trails and river valleys.

It feeds on ungulates, rodents, and less often on all kinds of game from insects to bears sleeping in dens, garbage and carrion, and plant foods. Hunting techniques are very diverse: from hiding sleeping people to coastal ice seals to the organized drive of ungulates to ambush. In the northern regions, the main prey in winter is reindeer, in the forest zone - elk and wild boar; in agricultural areas, wolves often kill livestock and recklessly chase dogs. It is interesting that when new types of prey appear, the wolf sometimes hesitates for a long time to touch it. Thus, when the wild boar settled in the Western Sayan Mountains, the wolf did not kill this unfamiliar animal for 7 years, and some wild boars even learned to follow packs of wolves in winter, picking up the remains of prey. A very strong, agile animal, it runs up to 25-40 km per day, and can carry a sheep to its lair, throwing it on its back. Once in a herd of sheep or camels, wolves often kill more than they can carry, although when hunting wild ungulates they rarely have this opportunity. Winter packs usually number 5-12 animals, but occasionally in places with an abundance of game up to 40 wolves gather.

In many areas, the wolf causes damage to livestock production and is subject to partial shooting. But the complete destruction of wolves is extremely undesirable. In the central and southern regions of the country this led to the emergence large number stray dogs, and in some places also wolf-dog hybrids, which cause much more damage and are sometimes dangerous to humans. In the absence of a wolf, ungulates, deprived of “sanitary control,” are susceptible to various diseases and often reproduce excessively (like elk and wild boars in the Moscow region). Wolves quickly remove sick and wounded ungulates, while a healthy adult elk or wild boar is able to fight off even a large flock, and wolves can only drive a healthy deer through deep snow or crust. In addition, wolves now kill about 200 times less livestock than in the 19th century, since in winter livestock are usually kept on large farms inaccessible to wolves.

During the period of feeding wolf cubs or, more often, in the case of rabies, wolves occasionally attack people. During the post-war period, only a few dozen similar cases were noted. Healthy animals are very careful and pose virtually no real danger. Over the same period, over one hundred thousand people suffered from dog bites in Russia. It is curious that in Soviet era official figures for damage from wolves in collective farm herds were 10-30 times higher than in private ones.

The skin of wolves, especially tundra and Siberian taiga, is a valuable fur raw material. However, in places where wolves have long been persecuted (for example, in the European part of Russia), they have become so cunning and cautious that it is not easy for even a professional wolf hunter to catch the animal.

The wolf is one of the most popular characters in the folklore of all the peoples of Russia, and among nomads and people who live by hunting and fishing, as well as among mountain peoples, the wolf usually personifies intelligence and nobility, and among settled farmers and cattle breeders - evil and aggressiveness. In the minds of many peoples, a wolf pack serves as a symbol of a fighting squad, and the beast itself is a symbol of the god of war. In addition, for thousands of years, many peoples of the world have believed that a person who has committed a crime or is bitten by a wolf can turn into a werewolf (among the ancient Slavs such a werewolf was called a werewolf). The peoples of the North, whose reindeer herds suffer great damage from wolves, still treat this beast without the prejudice characteristic of the Slavs and other inhabitants of Europe. Northerners have long known about the role of the wolf in nature. For example, according to the myths of the Lapland Sami, reindeer were created by the goddess of pastures, Raziaike. But the deer multiplied excessively, destroyed all the moss and began to get sick and die of hunger. Then, in order to save the tundra and the Sami, the god of justice Kavri created wolves. Outside Russia and the countries of Central Asia, the wolf is rare everywhere and is protected.

Population dynamics. The minimum number of wolves in the last two decades occurred in 1990, after which the number began to increase rapidly, reaching a maximum (in Russia as a whole) in 1995-1996 (Fig. 59).
In subsequent years, the wolf population in Russia as a whole remained at a high level. At the same time, in a number of economic regions of the European part of Russia in the late 1990s, a decrease in the number of wolves was observed ( table 15 ).

Table 15. Number of wolves (thousand heads)

Region	1991	1993	1995	1997	1999
Russia	25,963	15,67	36,13	46,37	44,27
Northern	2,803	2,021	4,403		2,34
Arkhangelskaya	1,019	1,176	1,806		0,58
Nenets					0,13
Vologda	0,728	0,825	0,879
Karelia	0,577			0,46	0,38
Komi	0,415		1,009	0,95
Murmansk	0,064	0,02	0,083	0,09	0,05
Northwestern	1,333	2,333	1,955		1,05
Leningradskaya	0,315	0,618	0,530
Novgorodskaya	0,533	0,712	0,607		0,25
Pskovskaya	0,485	1,003	0,818
Kaliningradskaya	0,012/0			0,08	0,08
Central	1,148	1,643	1,494	2,22	1,64
Bryansk	0,091	0,120	0,074	0,15	0,11
Vladimirskaya	0,041	0,028	0,013	0,05	0,03
Ivanovskaya	0,009		0,034	0,08	0,06
Kaluzhskaya	0,065	0,071	0,092	0,17
Kostromskaya	0,091	0,089	0,115	0,05
Moscow		0,027	0,018	0,05	0,05
Orlovskaya	0,009	0,028	0,012	0,02	0,02
Ryazan	0,059	0,076	0,092	0,013
Smolenskaya		0,43	0,169
Tverskaya	0,408	0,682	0,818		0,45
Tula	0,015	0,009	0,009	0,02	0,02
Yaroslavskaya	0,06	0,083	0,048
Volgo-Vyatsky	0,773	0,779	0,768	1,11	0,84
Kirovskaya	0,402	0,423
Mari El	0,027	0,053	0,06	0,09	0,05
Mordovia	0,125	0,08	0,101	0,12	0,16
Nizhny Novgorod	0,0210	0,169	0,269	0,36	0,21
Chuvash	0,009	0,024		0,04	0,02
Central Black Earth	0,045	0,05	0,070	0,52	0,44
Belgorodskaya	0,016	0,014		0,07	0,06
Voronezh					0,25
Kursk	0,008	0,008	0,052	0,08	0,05
Lipetskaya	0,004		0,003	0,02	0,02
Tambovskaya	0,017	0,028	0,015	0,05	0,06
Povolzhsky	0,101	0,239	0,299	2,04	2,45
Astrakhan	0,017	0,04	0,157	0,55	0,69
Volgogradskaya					0,51
Kalmykia				0,45	0,75
Penza	0,035		0,061	0,06	0,07
Samara	0,004	0,003		0,03	0,02
Saratovskaya			0,056	0,25	0,24
Tatarstan	0,025	0,049	0,05		0,05
Ulyanovskaya	0,02	0,03	0,031		0,05
North Caucasian	0,492	0,007	0,035	2,63	2,86
Dagestan	0,279
Kabardino-Balkaria	0,044	0,007
Krasnodar				0,55	0,57
Adygea				0,05	0,07
North Ossetia	0,055		0,035	0,08	0,06
Stavropol	0,026				0,35
Karachay-Cherkessia					0,15
Ingushetia	0,088			0,05	0,04
Chechen					0,12
Ural	1,794	1,650	1,787	3,06	2,84
Bashkortostan	0,496	0,410			0,99
Kurganskaya	0,011	0,009	0,014	0,06	0,07
Orenburgskaya	0,097	0,079	0,16	0,19	0,25
Perm	0,326	0,394	0,42	0,61	0,39
Komi-Permyatsky				0,13	0,14
Sverdlovskaya	0,66	0,695	0,938
Udmurt	0,66	0,063	0,034	0,11	0,09
Chelyabinsk	0,138		0,221	0,26	0,21
West Siberian	2,706	2,616	3,177	3,36	3,32
Altaic	0,059	0,08	0,253	0,39
Altai	0,08
Kemerovo	0,139		0,498
Novosibirsk	0,097	0,065	0,227	0,19	0,14
Omsk	0,349	0,424	0,599	0,32
Tomsk	1,014	1,499	1,093
Tyumen	0,968	0,548	0,507		0,29
Khanty-Mansiysk			1,109
Yamalo-Nenets			2,067		0,45
East Siberian	7,402	1,057	15,834	14,2	14,56
Buryatia	1,006		3,235
Irkutsk	1,986		3,235
Ust-Ordynsky Buryatsky				0,12	0,22
Krasnoyarsk	1,842	1,057	1,634
Taimyr
Khakassia				0,48	0,55
Evenki			5,034
Tyva
Chitinskaya	2,568		2,696
Aginsky Buryat					0,09
Far Eastern	7,354	3,279	6,309	12,25	11,85
Amurskaya	0,598	1,176	3,113
Kamchatskaya	0,133			0,15	0,12
Koryak
Magadan
Chukotka
Seaside	0,243		0,187	0,25	0,35
Sakha	3,062
Khabarovsk	3,318	2,103	2,903
Jewish			0,106	0,15	0,18

IN Northern economic region The number of wolves in the last decade began to decline noticeably since 1986, falling to 2-2.5 thousand in the late 1980s. Then control over the wolf population was largely lost and its number exceeded 4 thousand in 1995-1996. After this, against the background of a deteriorating food supply and with a newly increased annual production, close to the level of the second half of the 1980s, the wolf population again turned out to be minimal for the 1980s-1990s.

In the North-Western economic region , with a similar pattern of changes in wolf numbers in the 1980s, its numbers increased sharply in the first half of the 1990s, reaching a peak in 1994-1995. IN recent years, with the level of prey noticeably higher than in the late 1980s, the wolf population has again halved.

IN Central economic region after a decrease in the number of wolves in the 1980s to a minimum number of 1.3 thousand in 1990 (the level of production, accordingly, decreased from 2 to 0.8 thousand), the maximum number was observed in 1993-1996, after which the level of registered production exceeded 1.3 thousand heads, the wolf population began to decline.

IN Volga-Vyatka economic region peaks of abundance similar in value were observed in 1986 and 1996. The main wolf population is concentrated in the Kirov region. The current number is not much different from the depression of 1990 (0.8 thousand animals).

Fluctuations in wolf numbers are smoother in Central Black Earth economic region , which, except for the Voronezh region, is characterized by a low wolf population density. In the Voronezh region, including due to the relatively high proportion of protected areas, there are better protective and feeding conditions than in other regions of this economic region. The production of wolves in the entire economic region is equal to or even exceeds the sum of the increase in its population and the possible penetration of wolves from areas where the wolf population is higher.

The situation in Povolzhsky economic region sharply contrasting: in the northern regions and Tatarstan the wolf population density is low, but in the steppe regions there are many of them. In the 1980s, there were few wolves in Kalmykia, however, currently this Republic is characterized by high numbers, as well as other southern regions of the region.

The level of production here is not yet sufficient to not only compensate for the “local” reproduction of wolves and their influx from Kazakhstan in the regions bordering it, but also to reduce the number of these predators to a tolerable level.

The high number of wolves continues in North Caucasus economic region , which, in addition to the steppe regions, includes the republics and the Krasnodar Territory, where there are many mountain habitats and protected areas.

The number of wolves remains consistently high in Ural economic region. A third of this number are wolves living in Republic of Bashkortostan, where wolf prey is currently such that it cannot even compensate for the annual increase. In the 1980s, when the volume of annual wolf production in Bashkiria was close to the values ​​of the spring population, it was possible to reduce its number by almost half, to 0.5 thousand wolves in 1990. Currently, it is again very high. A noticeable increase in the number of wolves in the Orenburg region can be explained by its influx from Kazakhstan. A slight reduction in the number of wolves in the economic region occurred due to the Sverdlovsk and, especially, the Perm regions, where intensive regulation of the number of wolves is being carried out. In the Kurgan region, this predator does not get out of control during the entire period under review. In the Udmurt Republic, in more complex natural conditions, control was restored in the last 3 years; in 1999, the wolf population was at its lowest level over the past 20 years. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the activities of the regional hunting department in inventorying wolf families and the “infrastructure” of the wolf population.

IN West Siberian economic region The wolf population is still high, it remains at the level that was observed in the 1st half of the 1980s and since the mid-1990s, but the peak of the population may have already been passed in 1998.

IN East Siberian and Far Eastern economic regions there was a decrease in numbers at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, an increase in numbers in the early 1990s, stabilization at quite high level- currently. The trend towards a decrease in numbers is more often observed where control over the wolf population is better established - in the Republic of Buryatia, the Amur Region and the Khabarovsk Territory.

The distribution by region depending on the type of population dynamics is presented in Figure 60.

This map diagram shows regions with different types of wolf population dynamics (Fig. 60a) and cannot be considered as a map diagram reflecting the distribution of the species. Russia is characterized by 3 types of wolf population dynamics. In regions with high numbers (type 2), natural fluctuations are characteristic with a periodicity of apparently 5–7 years. For regions (southern taiga and forest-steppe) with low wolf numbers (type 1), a slight increase in numbers is observed. Regions with average wolf numbers are characterized by a negative trend.