Map showing where the young wolf Kampinos had his accident, with reference to Kampinos
National park and Warsaw.
The repair of a broken bone always takes time, so young Kampinos was moved to a facility
in Masuria, up in the northeast of the country. Over this period a team of foresters, mem-
bers of the Association for Nature ‘wolf’, and a dedicated vet nursed him back to health.
In the meantime, the conservation genetics team at the University of Warsaw conducted
genetic analysis on samples taken from the young wolf, finding that he is a descendent of
the alpha wolf pair of Kampinos Forest. This is important, because it only made sense to
release him back into Kampinos National Park if he was originally from the local wolf fam-
ily.
With his recovery going smoothly and his place of origin established, preparations for his
release back into his natal family group were put into place. To help follow up on his future
adventures (and to give important research data!) he was given a GPS collar, which tracks
the wearer’s movements across the landscape and sends them back via the mobile phone
network.
So three months after his accident, Kampinos had recovered. He was sedated, and then
driven three hours back to Warsaw, whereupon he was released back into the national
park.
What followed turned out to be an agonising wait to find out his fate. There was always the
chance that he wouldn’t acclimatise back into the wild, and an even more worrying pros-
pect was that his family may not recognise him, possibly even attacking him.