At one time, a huge forest stretched across Europe.
This is the last remaining part of the "primeval forest."
Białowieża Forest Poland
My name is Tom and I'm a Welsh-Polish ecologist.
I live in the Białowieża Forest.
It's one the last primeval forests in Europe.
It's situated in Poland and it's very special.
Białowieża is home to over 12,000 types of animals.
It's also the closest Europe has to the Great Barrier Reef...
..and the Serengeti.
I study animals with the Mammal Research Institute in Białowieża...
..and Warsaw University.
I'm quite an expert on wolves.
I study how large carnivores such as wolves, bears and lynx...
..shape the ecosystem of the forest.
We want to discover what effect they have on other animals in the forest.
Our main source of data is the camera trap.
It has a simple motion sensor.
Large animals are shy. Camera traps allow us to monitor them from afar.
My most amazing experience in the forest happened last year...
..when I recorded a bear on one of my camera traps.
No bears had been here since the end of the 1900s.
They have more or less been extinct since then.
The history of bears in Białowieża is very interesting.
They were reintroduced...
..during the first large carnivore reintroduction in the 1930s.
They were once again hunted to extinction, this time during WWII.
We've had to wait decades for them to return naturally.
This camera trap was used to monitor badgers...
..so this was a bit of a shock.
This is a huge moment in the history of nature.
It proves that conservation works.
Since 1992, the Habitats Directive...
..has been protecting large carnivores within the EU.
It's had a huge effect.
Białowieża is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
..and an EU Special Area of Conservation.
The forest is protected from loggers.
However, the situation is complex.
Not all of the forest is within a National Park.
The logging threat still remains.
At one time, a huge forest stretched across the whole of Europe.
Białowieża forest is the only part of it that remains.
There aren't many better places to see wolves in their natural habitat.
Almost everything we know about them in popular culture is wrong.
Wolves are similar to humans.
If more people understood this, it would be easier to protect them.
Białowieża is home to four wolf families.
I have actually seen one of them.
I was walking alone on a track in the woods.
There were about six animals.
I remember two of the younger ones staring at me.
When I'm walking in the woods, I find things like wolf scat.
Wolf poo is very interesting to scientists like myself.
I can track the wolves and make a genetic analysis of them.
This is where the animals will drink...
..and they also create a mud bath.
Some of the animals in Białowieża are very rare.
They are endangered species and this is where conservation comes in.
If we want to, we can protect nature...
..and give endangered animals a chance.
Białowieża shows us that there are reasons to be optimistic.
It's incredible what's happening here, right under our noses.
This clip was filmed in the summer of last year.
I haven't seen any sign of the bear in the forest since then.
The task now is to find a bear with cubs.
It would be an historic moment to record a permanent recolonization.
It would also prove that bears are living here once again.
Until then, I will still be searching.