大象传媒

The wolf has mounted an extraordinary comeback. Once hunted to extinction across Western Europe the wolf has taken advantage of the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the depopulation of the countryside to spread from east to west, reaching the suburbs of Amsterdam and Brussels. Only Britain, Ireland and Luxembourg now lack the top predator that haunts our fairytales.

Tom Heap and Helen Czerski go face to snout with the wolf to find out the secrets of its success. They're joined by writer, Adam Weymouth, who tracked the route of a pioneering wolf called Slavc that made its way from Slovenia to Verona, kick-starting the return of the wolf packs to northern Italy. 大象传媒 Eastern Europe reporter Nick Thorpe digs into the relationship between farmers and wolves in their Carpathian heartland to reveal the conflicts we can expect as the western wolves increase their population.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Assistant Producer: Toby Field

Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University