GW1909m: from Germany to the Catalan Pyrenees

Born four years ago near the German town of Nordhorn (Lower Saxony), he is the protagonist of the longest known grey wolf migration. Known by the technical name of GW1909m, in February 2023 this male wolf was detected in the Pyrenean municipality of Vilaller. The invaluable contributions of a French citizen helped experts from Catalonia, France and Germany reconstruct his journey.

According to the Department of Climate Action, the wolf in question has travelled 1,240 kilometres. Previously, the longest straight-line distances recorded were 1,092 km, between Norway and Finland, in 2007; 880, between Germany and Belarus, in 2009; and 829, between Switzerland and Slovakia, in 2022.

This fascinating story began a year ago, with the discovery of wolf faeces by the Special Canine Group (GEK9) of Rural Agents in Vilaller on February 13, 2023. An identified male had been known to be in the area since 2021, but automatic photographs during the winter of 2022-2023 raised the suspicion of the possible presence of a second specimen. Efforts therefore increased, resulting in the collection of the Vilaller sample. The genetic analysis indicated a lineage “w1”, referring to the wolf population of Central and Eastern Europe, the first case of this type in Spain. A sample was then sent to the French laboratory Antagene, which confirmed its coincidence with that of an individual previously located in the region of Burgundy, in eastern France.

This same wolf had been seen on June 17, 2022, when a driver spotted a wolf-like animal running along a road in the commune of Fleurey-Les-Faverney, in the Haute-Saône department in France. Thanks to this, an official of the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB) managed to collect some hairs in a wire fence at the place where the witness had indicated the wolf had passed. It was discovered to be of the same “w1” lineage, prompting the French authorities to send their sample to the German laboratory for cross-analysis. And thanks to faecal samples analysed there in August 2020, it is known that GW1909m was born in a group located near Nordhorn, a few kilometres from the border with the Netherlands. Wolves have spread in Europe thanks to strict legal protection since the late seventies.