He has helped revive the use of two deterrents that, for reasons no one quite understands, wolves find particularly scary: red bunting (hung around sheep pens) and the bark of the fluffy white Tatra Mountain Sheepdog. The survival and mobility of Poland’s wolves has been helped by the country’s belated infrastructure development. In 1989, when the communists relinquished power, Poland had only one motorway. Major road projects – requiring wildlife impact studies – began after Poland joined the European Union in 2004. The country now has one of the highest densities in the world of overhead crossings and underpasses for wild animals. Attitudes have also changed. “For many years, hunting was cultural. In 1975, there were fewer than 100 wolves in Poland. Beginning in the 1950s, hunting wolves had been encouraged by the authorities. They paid a reward for killing a wolf worth a month’s salary. It was carnage.” Mysłajek says the improvement in Polish wolves’ survival chances has been considerable but remains fragile. Packs are mobile across borders and hunting still goes on in neighbouring Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia. He claims Poland’s new government, elected in October 2015, is hostile to wolves. “The Environment Minister, Jan Szyszko, makes no secret of being a hunter. There are 120,000 licensed hunters in Poland and they are