Scavengers

SKANDULV's research has shown that the return of wolves has led to only a marginal increase in carcass remains available to scavengers. This can be explained by the fact that naturally deceased moose, and especially the remains left after moose hunting, are the main food sources for scavengers. Although wolves leave carcass remains behind, the return of wolves has meant that fewer moose are shot, to compensate for the wolves taking a number of moose. Fewer moose also die by themselves in the presence of wolves, as some of the moose killed by wolves would have died of starvation anyway. Therefore, the overall net benefit to scavengers is only slightly higher in the presence of wolves.

However, the presence of wolves has resulted in a more evenly distributed food supply for scavengers throughout the year, with an increase in food availability during the critical late winter period when many species face food shortages. Late winter and spring are also the periods when scavenger species primarily consume carcasses of moose killed by wolves. This suggests that, despite a reduction in the total biomass of carcasses available, scavenger species may still benefit from the return of wolves.

Field cameras placed at moose carcasses killed by wolves revealed that foxes, ravens, and Eurasian jays were the most common scavengers. These species are the ones that can be expected to benefit from wolf establishment. However, this is assuming that the effects of, for example, wolf predation on smaller predators such as foxes are not taken into account. But these are also common species whose frequent visitation may be due to their high densities. Access to wolf carcasses may also benefit rarer species such as golden eagles, goshawks and wolverines.