HOMEWARD BOUND

Following relentless persecution, grey wolves are making a comeback in Germany. But not everybody welcomes the return of these predators.

- AXEL GOMILLE

IT'S 2009 AND I'M SITTING IN A HIDE ON A MILITARY training ground in Saxony, close to the Polish border, overlooking a wide, open sandy area. It acts as a firebreak between where I am and the dark forest beyond. The croaking of a raven echoes through the quiet air and a light wind rushes through the leaves.

There are no animals to be seen, yet the sandy ground is pitted with the tracks of roe and red deer, wild boar, foxes - and wolves. It may not be total wilderness, yet I am still in the heart of Germany's wolf country.

I wait for some time, unmoving in the hide, and then suddenly it happens - the moment I've been waiting for. A wolf steps out of the trees and into the open, pausing to catch the scent of other forest-dwellers drifting on the breeze.

It's my first encounter with a wild wolf in Germany and I can hardly believe my eyes. The wolf continues to sniff the air and draws closer and closer. Then it seems the wind carries my scent to him. After a brief moment of orientation, he immediately changes pace and direction, sprinting back into the dense forest. Apparently he is not keen on humans.

Once widespread in central Europe, wolves had almost been hunted to extinction by the 19th century, regarded as a danger to livestock, competitors for game and a threat to people, in whom fear of this species has long run deep. But 20 or so years ago, these predators started to come back - not throug reintroduction but by naturally migrating west from Poland. In the years since, they have managed to not only reestablish themselves in Germany, but to steadily strengthen their hold, increasing their population by about 25 per cent annually. It's a tremendous success story, aided in part by the protection granted to wolves in 1990, in the aftermath of German reunification. In years gone by, any wolves crossing the border into what was then East Germany would have been systematically exterminated.