Wolves on the Pohorje: State hunting grounds, the new home of Gorenjec and Hrvatica
For the lay public, it may have been surprising news that a wolf returned to Pohorje and created the first pack here. Among experts, however, such an outcome had been expected for some time. “We had internal bets on when the first troop would appear on the Pohorje,” admits Rok Černe from the Forestry Institute of Slovenia, who is one of the leading experts on large animals in our country. Did he win the bet? Instead of answering, he just smiles.
19 June 2026, 12:00 p.m
When a wolf tagged with a tracking device crossed Slovenia years ago, in 2012, the wild animal was given a human name – Slavc. His partner also had a given name: Julija. Slavc and Julija created a troop in Lessinia National Park in Italy.
The name is given only to those wolves that have been equipped with a telemetry collar, with the help of which experts monitor its movements. But this does not mean that the rest do not have their own identity. The Pohorski herd was founded in 2024 by a female with the genetic mark DAM35L, which originates from a herd in Croatia and was detected in the 2022/2023 season at a damage case near Velenje, and a male MSV2EP, who was part of the Pokljuka 2021 herd. Two years ago he was forced to leave it and – as it is professionally called – dispersed to the east in order to find a new habitat and provide for the continuation of the animal species.
The identity and movement paths of the charismatic beast from Croatia and Gorenja were determined with the help of systematic sampling and analysis of excrement and other biological traces left by wolves in nature. The results of these analyzes can be read in last year’s report on monitoring the state of wolf conservation in Slovenia in the 2024/2025 season. Monitoring is financed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Space and coordinated by the Slovenian Forestry Institute.
This year they may already have a third litter
The Croatian-Slovenian couple chose Pohorje as their place, where the wolf was exterminated decades ago. Their domicile is an area of about 500 square kilometers between Klopni vrh and Sekretarjev vrh, where there is a state hunting ground with special significance. The male and female have so far had two litters with a maximum of five cubs. According to rough estimates, the herd numbers about ten animals. They may have a third litter this year.
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