stays close to the young generation in Brasov County and continues to invest in educational initiatives aimed at encouraging professional and personal development Some recent projects stand out for the positive impact they have on students’ development, many of them being enrolled at Malaxa Technological High School Zarnesti. “Award” – a globally recognized youth development programme – helps students gain valuable life skills and explore personal interests outside the classroom The company’s involvement supports both the logistical needs and the mentoring framework helping students set goals and work towards achievements in areas like volunteering as part of the “Alternative Week” programme Ghica Elementary School in Rucar visited the Zarnesti Mill to learn more about the longstanding papermaking tradition fourth-year students from the Transylvania University of Brașov Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Environmental Protection also toured the site to gain insight into their potential working environment after graduation continuing a collaboration with the local academic environment which has become a tradition by now “Education is more than textbooks – it’s about inspiring curiosity, responsibility, and resilience in the younger generation. We are proud to support the ‘Award’ programme and welcome students on site during the Alternative Week, encouraging all, regardless of their age, to dream big and unlock their full potential,” Diana Ciuraru, HR Manager, DS Smith Zarnesti. These initiatives are part of DS Smith’s broader ambition to promote education and professional development in the local community By nurturing connections between school and industry Zarnesti Paper Mill aims to equip young people with the knowledge and practical insights needed for long-term success – both personally and professionally Since 2018, DS Smith operates Romania’s largest paper mill in Zărnești, meeting nearly half of the country’s internal demand for paper. The raw material used is entirely sourced from recyclable paper – a key factor for Romania to achieve European recycling targets for paper and cardboard packaging. The Group also manages a recycling operations hub in Bucharest two recycling depots in Ștefănești and Cluj-Napoca two packaging production units in Ghimbav and Timișoara We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used DS Smith Zarnesti paper mill has inaugurated its new Waste Water Treatment Plant an essential component of an 11 million Euros worth investment plan reconfirming its commitment to sustainable paper making in the region Zarnesti mill also marked 170 years of tradition in papermaking a remarkable moment for the company and the paper industry alike will contribute to increasing the paper production capacity of the mill while reducing it’s operational impact on the environment including reducing fresh water consumption by up to 20% The investments package will also contribute to decreasing both gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions with projected CO2 savings of up to 4,500 tons per year “We are proud to have completed this major investment which will significantly contribute to the efficiency of the production process and protecting the environment” says Marius JuncanariuGeneral Manager of DS Smith Zarnesti "The paper mill in Zarnesti is more than a symbol of the city – it is the largest production unit of its kind in Romania and a trusted partner of the local community Since DS Smith took over the factory 5 years ago We are proud of the results and motivated to continue realising our ambitions." “Romania is an important market for DS Smith and the mill in Zarnesti is at the very heart of our operations in the region” Mr Flierman continued: “Since acquiring the mill it has been a key priority of ours to invest into developing a sustainable infrastructure at the mill An infrastructure that enables us to continue to meet the ever-changing demands of our customers but one that also ensures that we can reduce our environmental impact while at the same time make a positive contribution to the local economy and community” The paper mill was taken over by the DS Smith group in 2018 and has benefited through an extensive modernisation programme undertaken by the company Stora Enso has completed the acquisition of the Finnish sawmill company Junnikkala Oy Mondi announces that following the start-up of its state-of-the-art paper machine at its Štětí mill.. a global leader in industrial packaging products and services Kimberly-Clark Corporation recently announced plans to invest over $2 billion over the next 5 years.. International Paper announces the groundbreaking of its new state-of-the-art sustainable a leading full-service packaging solutions supplier for the world’s biggest beauty SPM International announces Bill Partipilo as the new CEO of SPM Instrument boxboard production in Q1 2025 fell 1% compared to Q1 2024 Smurfit Westrock plc announced it will permanently close its coated recycled board (CRB) mill in.. Valmet will deliver a disc filter refurbishment and reinstallation to Holmen Paper’s Braviken Paper Mill.. By Belinda Kelly According to new research Nordic Paper has today decided to approve environmental investments of up to SEK 450 million.. Together with its Turkish partner company Labtek the German testing equipment manufacturer emtec Electronic will.. Mondi has successfully started up its Duino mill This milestone further strengthens Mondi’s position as.. Gulf Paper Manufacturing and Toscotec started up PM2 after a forming section upgrade at their.. Södra delivered a stable result for the first quarter of 2025 VPK Group announces the acquisition of Open Imballaggi a well-established sheet plant specializing in corrugated.. a leading full-line supplier of technologies and services for the paper industry Amcor and Berry Global Group recently announced the European Commission (EC) has granted unconditional approval.. Stora Enso plans to implement a new organisation with seven P&L responsible business areas reflecting.. Georgia-Pacific’s Savannah River mill in Rincon now accepts polyethylene (PE)-coated paper cups in its.. John Hardwick Twitter Facebook Romanian paper mill DS Smith Paper Zărnești announced an expansion of the project after successful implementation of a major condition monitoring project's first stage in the summer of 2021 After the completion of two more project stages the Intellinova Parallel EN online system will fully cover all rolls in the dryer section of the plant's paper machine PM1 For project stages 2 and 3, SPM Instrument Bulgaria have supplied eight- and sixteen-channel online monitoring units along with DuoTech accelerometers and sensors measuring vibration and temperature The project also includes an upgrade to the Condmaster Ruby 2022 analysis and diagnostics software Installation and commissioning of the new systems began during the planned shutdown in June when Stage 2 was commissioned while Stage 3 will be finalized during the next maintenance shutdown in November The system installed in Stage 1 has already justified the investment It has detected several cases of developing bearing damage currently monitored with the SPM HD and HD ENV condition monitoring technologies Maintenance Manager at DS Smith Zărnești Paper Mill SPM’s condition monitoring solution was successfully implemented for Paper Machine 1 at Zărnești Mill exceeding our expectations with the quick installation and online support we received from SPM The solution has helped us predict and prevent problems by generating valuable information about the status of the equipment We have now decided to extend the condition monitoring project to the entire PM1 we’ve had no unexpected downtime for the monitored areas We also look forward to implementing this solution for auxiliary equipment continuously increasing our knowledge and capabilities in condition monitoring.” DS Smith is a leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions and the Zărnești Paper Mill has been in operation for over 150 years It is one of Romania's top paper and corrugated board manufacturers with an annual production of approximately 200,000 tons of liner and fluting products based on 100% paper and cardboard waste as raw material Republication of Lesprom Network content is prohibited without the prior written consent of Lesprom Network General Terms and Conditions and Privacy policy This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The Romanian Mountain Rescue Dispatch announces an action by the mountain rescuers from Zărneşti to recover the body of a deceased person who fell from over 400m in Piatra Craiului Mountains The victim is an American citizen whose disappearance was not reported "Intervention by the mountain rescuers from Zărneşti to recover the body of a deceased person in an extremely difficult to access area," writes the National Mountain Rescue Dispatch Today, the mountain rescuers also announced that they are searching for a 37-year-old man who left Piteşti six days ago telling friends he was "going to the mountains" and nothing is known about his whereabouts "We learned from friends that he pretty much sold his mountain gear a leading sustainable packaging manufacturer hosted the reception of the works carried out – according to the Building Permit issued in 2021 – for the upgrade of the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Zarnesti The investment is evaluated at 8.7 million Euro and will improve environmental performance whilst increasing the water treatment capacity at the mill. The event took place before the competent authorities – Zarnesti City Hall and the State Inspectorate for Constructions representatives of the companies which delivered the civil construction and installation works and a technical commission appointed by DS Smith Paper Zarnesti the completion of a major milestone was marked as part of the company’s investment plan in sustainable development DS Smith Zarnesti: “This investment into the mill in Zarnesti is further evidence of our commitment to the area both economically and environmentally Developing the new WWTP and putting it into use will enable us to maximize the efficiency and environmental performance of our operations DS Smith Zarnesti is the largest paper manufacturer in Romania accounting for almost half of the domestic demand for papers for packaging DS Smith’s operations in Romania comprises of a recycling head office in Bucharest, two recycling depots in Otopeni and Cluj Napoca, a paper mill in Zarnesti, two packaging production units in Ghimbav and Timișoara and three service centers in Pitești, Timișoara and Otopeni, employing in total over 650 people Triple action for the EMX65 / EMX85 European Championship with exciting races for the South East South West and North Europe zone concluded this weekend Now the young talents will head to the semi final in Zarnesti the third and last round of the EMX65 / EMX85 European Championship South East zone took place in Bosnia Herzegovina A weekend with heavy rain put the very young riders to the test with mud and cold weather The well prepared and quite technical Fernao Joanes track in Portugal hosted the third and last round of the South West zone with great battles in both classes The second and last round of the North Europe zone was raced in hot weather conditions in Parnu the bear was rehabilitated by sanctuary workers and as of this publication she no longer regularly paces Iterations of the video have been shared across platforms, including on YouTube, Reddit, and X (formerly Twitter), such as the post below which had received more than 6.4 million views at the time of this publication: Abused zoo bear still circles in imaginary cage seven years after being freed pic.twitter.com/WpJyDmEC1R — Weird World (@TheWeirdWorld) February 5, 2024 Snopes contacted sanctuary founder Cristina Lapis On the Romanian organization's website, Ina is listed as a resident bear, with a description that reads: For 20 years Ina had only half of a swimming pool half of a shelter and half of a walking space At the zoo in Piatra Neamt she lived only half of a life – literally and figuratively the pen was provided with just one pool of water one den and one "walking" area… for 2 bears AMP managed to bring her to the sanctuary in Zarnesti The video in question was originally posted to the sanctuary's Facebook account on Jan. 13, 2021, (archived here) with a caption translated to English that read:  When you go to a zoo that has tiny spaces for animals Her mind remained trapped in an imaginary cage the same one that held her captive for 20 years This is the image of trauma that sometimes never heal and never forget Below is how the video originally appeared: Lapis told Snopes she had rescued more than 100 bears throughout the years many of whom had been held in small pens and to this day "remain in their mental cage" even after arriving at the 200-acre property like for any human being who spent 20 years in prison; some of them can move on Research indicates that, like humans, animals may experience post-traumatic stress disorder that can be caused by a variety of stressors and may result in long-term consequences Ina continued to circle at the sanctuary for about six months Sanctuary staff placed a stone in the path to block her pattern and eventually Ina began to break the habit of walking in circles Though sometimes Ina falls back into her circling routine Lapis said the bear is happiest in the forest with other resident bears "Ina is the story that is known," said Lapis adding that there are more captive bears that need help Abused Zoo Bear Still Circles In Imaginary Cage 7 Years After Being Freed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keI4oOvxmB0 https://www.google.com/search?q=bear+walks+in+circle&oq=bear+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg7MgYIARBFGDsyBggCEEUYOzIGCAMQRRg5MgYIBBBFGEAyBggFEEUYPTIGCAYQRRg8MgYIBxBFGD3SAQgxMTQwajBqOagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#ip=1 "Current Status of Animal Models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Behavioral and Biological Phenotypes and Future Challenges in Improving Translation." Biological Psychiatry https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.11.019 https://www.facebook.com/Bear.Sanctuary/posts/pfbid06y4w6WhXdx9zttKpW7f2D1zNhpakaJwjYViuTA6YCuqjiwujLFcbQSRShEwzVZoil "Animal Models of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Face Validity." Frontiers in Neuroscience "Https://Twitter.Com/TheWeirdWorld/Status/1754393051039244760." X (Formerly Twitter) https://twitter.com/TheWeirdWorld/status/1754393051039244760 https://m.facebook.com/The-Lab-114802393726584/videos/why-is-this-bear-walking-in-circles-even-though-he-has-all-of-this-land-to-roam-/197069318833224/ "The Trauma of Living in Captivity: She-Bear Spinning in Circles Although It's Free." The Romania Journal https://www.romaniajournal.ro/society-people/the-trauma-of-living-in-captivity-she-bear-spinning-in-circles-although-its-free/ https://millionsoffriends.org/en/adopt/bears/ina/ "World Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress Proceedings Madison Dapcevich is a freelance contributor for Snopes This material may not be reproduced without permission Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com Pictures copyright: Marius Dincă (Romanian Motorcycling Federation) The first Semi Final of the EMX65 / EMX85 European Championship was hosted by Romania with the flawless organization of the Romanian Motorcycle Federation Zărnești welcomed the best riders of the South West and South East Zone: the traditional Romanian motocross track was well prepared by the Jitsu Zărnești Club for the youngsters of South Europe who were ready to chase the dream of qualifying to the prestigious Loket Final that will be held in July Italian rider Andrea Uccellini (Husqvarna) from SW zone managed to win both races In Race 1 he started from P3 going after two French riders: Kenzo Ferez (KTM) and SW zone leader Leo Diss-Fenard (KTM) in second place Uccellini was second and next lap he moved into first place opening quite a gap while Italian Edoardo Riganti (Husqvarna) finished third In Race 2 Uccellini took the holeshot and led the whole race until the end mastering the technical track of Zărnești and winning the overall with maximum points Second in the last race and also for the overall the Italian Riganti who managed to edge French rider Diss-Fenard into the third step of the overall podium Croatian Roko Ivandici (KTM) from SW zone took the holeshot of both races and won by a great margin clearly making a statement that he is going all-out for the Final in Loket He won the overall with maximum points in front of French rider Timotei Cez (Gas Gas) With a sixth place in Race 1 and a well-deserved third place in Race 2 the French rider Mathys Agullo (KTM) completed the podium | Copyright 2025 FIM Europe | Terms of use - Privacy statement | DS Smith Zarnesti paper mill has inaugurated yesterday its new Waste Water Treatment Plant which will significantly contribute to the efficiency of the production process and protecting the environment The paper mill in Zarnesti is more than a symbol of the city – it is the largest production unit of its kind in Romania We are proud of the results and motivated to continue realising our ambitions,” says Marius Juncanariu “Romania is an important market for DS Smith and the mill in Zarnesti is at the very heart of our operations in the region Here you can see the papers being made that provide our customers with the packaging solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time such as single use plastic replacement,” added Niels Flierman The paper mill was taken over by the DS Smith group in 2018 and has benefited, throughout these 5 years, through an extensive modernisation programme undertaken by the company. “Since acquiring the mill it has been a key priorityof ours to invest into developing a sustainable infrastructure at the mill while at the same time make a positive contribution to the local economy and community,” continued Niels Flierman Using exclusively recycled paper, the DS Smith paper mill in Zărnești is the largest production unit of its kind in Romania, serving almost half of the local demand for packaging paper. DS Smith owns a coordination centre for recycling operations in Bucharest two recycling depots in Stefanesti and Cluj-Napoca two packaging production units in Ghimbav and Timisoara and three service centers HM Trade Commissioner for Europe in the UK Government and H.E UK Ambassador to Romania at the production unit in Zarnesti The paper mill was one key stop in the one-week tour that Chris Barton CMG made in Romania with the aim to foster British – Romanian trade and cooperation As part of the official visit, the two officials attended a guided tour of Zarnesti Paper Mill and had the chance to learn more on the paper-making tradition of the city, the investment plan and sustainability targets as well as the significant contribution to the long-term development of the region. DS Smith has continuously strengthened its footprint in Romania investing in our sustainable paper and packaging operations which serve customers across the country and beyond It was an honour to host this special visit and present the work we are doing at Zarnesti mill to further develop the longstanding tradition the region has for paper making” UK Ambassador to Romania: “It is always a pleasure to see British companies investing and reaching new heights in Romania The Paper Mill in Zarnesti is not only a leading manufacturer but also a major employer and a key contributor to the local and regional economy I am very happy to have been able to witness their success as a recycling factory and one that is creating new jobs for its community.” Recently, DS Smith also launched the Zarnesti Mill virtual tour, which allows anyone to enjoy a 360° virtual tour of the mill and follow the papermaking process all the way from the quality hub to dispatch, whilst hearing from the people making it all possible. As the largest producer of paper for the packaging industry in Romania using 100% recycled paper as its raw material DS Smith Paper Zarnesti has big plans in terms of sustainability talked to Business Review about the company’s achievements so far and its development strategy for the local market   2023 was a major year for DS Smith’s operations in Romania How would you briefly describe it and what would you say generated this positive development and after five years of DS Smith ownership we’re starting to see returns on our EUR 11 million investment plan that commenced in 2020 and coupled with organisations and consumers demanding more sustainable packaging solutions this means demand for paper-based packaging is higher than ever Paper’s ease of recyclability means that it has an important role to play in achieving a more circular economy   What were the biggest challenges DS Smith faced as a business in 2023 Outstanding performance is key for all businesses—and we are no different. Despite the challenging economic environment and fluctuations in demand, we’ve remained agile and continued to invest for the long-term to support our customers and improve productivity and efficiency. DS Smith has ambitious targets to achieve a 46% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 As one of 12 DS Smith paper mills in Europe Zarnesti has a massive role to play in helping us meet that target We’ve worked hard this year in ensuring we play our part here in Zarnesti with the opening of our new wastewater treatment plant being an important moment we have focused on improving energy efficiency in our day-to-day operations What were the most important projects the company carried out in 2023 The opening of the new wastewater treatment plant was a massive moment for us this year It contributes to increasing the mill’s paper production capacity while reducing its operational impact on the environment including reducing freshwater consumption by up to 20% and technical waste quantity by 60% The plant will also contribute to decreasing both gas consumption and greenhouse gas emissions with projected CO2 savings of up to 4,500 tonnes per year we’ve seen likewise in our box plant in Ghimbav and the opening of a new recycling depot in Stefanesti we continue to be involved in our community with our educational and biodiversity initiatives with local schools What is the current state of Romanian paper manufacturing and what changes should we expect to see in the coming years The paper manufacturing market is linked to packaging development in the area and DS Smith has an ambitious growth plan in Romania and Eastern Europe We recently announced an EUR 13 million investment to increase capacity at our Ghimbav packaging site while also reducing the site’s gas consumption and CO2 emissions supporting our customers’ sustainability targets We continue to focus on cost optimisation and efficiency as well as on serving our customers by innovating new products and delivering high-quality paper How important are ESG and sustainability criteria for DS Smith Sustainability is at the core of everything we do and we are taking action to lead the transition to a low carbon circular economy through the four focus areas in our Now & Next Sustainability Strategy: Circularity DS Smith Paper Zarnesti is the largest producer of paper for the packaging industry in Romania Our business model is based on the key principles of a circular economy: designing out waste and pollution and recycle cardboard packaging in less than 14 days participated in the event “Career Introduction – Planning and Motivation” organized within the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection “Cristofor Simionescu” from “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași DS Smith Zărnești has started a partnership with the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași through which students will have the chance to participate in a paid internship during which the participants will gain experience and practical skills under the careful coordination of the specialists from the DS Smith team young people will benefit from accommodation and transport Diana Ciuraru, Director of Human Resources at DS Smith Zărnești, said: „We are glad that we were part of this project through which we were able to talk to young people about the protection of natural resources by obtaining the most of each fiber, reducing waste and pollution through circular solutions. Moreover, we are proud to give them the chance to work in a factory, and why not, to start a career at DS Smith.” This is the latest in a series of initiaitives that the paper mill in Zarnesti has developed to support education and sustainability in the local area – helping the company to deliver on it’s Now & Next Sustainability Strategy target of engaging 5 million young people by 2030 on the circular economy and circular lifestykles the company entered into a partnership with middle schools in Zărnești through which over 570 students participated in interactive sessions on topics such as environmental protection selective waste collection and the circular economy The program continues this year at the Poiana Mărului No DS Smith Zărnești is the largest paper manufacturer in Romania, covering almost half of domestic demand. DS Smith’s operations in Romania include a recycling center in Bucharest two recycling depots in Otopeni and Cluj Napoca British singer Leona Lewis has recently visited a WSPA bear reservation in Zarnesti Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia has starred in a documentary about the same bear sanctuary near the city of Brasov visited the WSPA bear sanctuary last weekend after having previously declared that at the end of her European tour she would visit the reservation in Romania in order to see how the abused animals were recovering has starred in a one-hour documentary that captures the Australian singer traveling across Romania with the World Society for the Protection of Animals helping to rescue imprisoned bears and to bring them in the reservation in Zarnesti The sanctuary is encouraging those interested to take part in a volunteer vacation at the Zarnesti location and provide assistance to the staff. Some of the work tasks include feeding the bears, repairing fences, working in the bear health unit, and showing visitors the grounds. Be one of the first to try our new activity feed A lot of things in Romania suffered during the brutal reign of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu—human rights But tucked away in the deep freeze lay a stunningly well-preserved wilderness high in the Carpathian mountains IT’S TWO HOURS AFTER SUNSET on this snow-clogged Romanian mountain and in the headlight of a stalled snowmobile stand five worried people and two amused dogs translates from a distant Indian language to mean “Northern Lights.” Her pale gray eyes glow coldly My name translates from Norwegian to mean “cow man” or “a cattle jockey who should have stayed in his paddock”—neither of which lends me any aura of masterly attunement to present circumstances we five humans are poorly prepared for a night’s bivouac in the snow having long since abandoned most of our gear in an ill-advised gambit to lighten our load and move faster from the conservation group Vier Pfoten (“Four Paws”)—are on backcountry skis with skins schlepping along steadily behind a biologist named Christoph Promberger and his biologist wife 34-year-old German whose raucous black hair and almond-thin lidded eyes make him appear faintly Mongolian—that is like a young Mongolian basketball player with a wry smile Though officially employed by the Munich Wildlife Society he has worked here in the Carpathian Mountains since 1993 collaborating with a Romanian counterpart named Ovidiu Ionescu of the Forestry Research and Management Institute to create a new conservation program called the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project joined the project more recently and is now beginning a study of lynx Both of them are hardy souls with considerable field experience in remote parts of the Yukon (where Christoph did his masters work on the relationship between wolves and ravens so they know a thing or three about winter survival reflecting an unusually severe series of January storms and an absence of other human traffic along this road Gordon and I are surprised too: that Murphy’s Law At the outset Christoph was towing a cargo sled but that had to be cast loose and left behind the Skidoos have been foundering in soft six-foot drifts and much of our energy for the past few hours has gone into pushing these infernal machines nudging them ever higher toward a peak called Fata lui Ilie after we’d bogged at the first steep pitch and then bogged again and again would have been to turn back at nightfall and retreat to the valley convincing ourselves recklessly that the going would get easier farther up two pairs of snowshoes as well as the skis since ditching even our packs back at the last steep switchback The good news is that the forest is full of wolves “I believe the term is goat-fucked,” Gordon says suddenly “A situation that’s so absurdly bad it becomes sublime.” Gordon’s own situation is more sublime than the rest of ours since he’s suffering from a gut-curdling intestinal flu as well as the generally shared ailments—cold hands “We could easily spend the night out here On that point I’m inclined to disagree: We could do it CHRISTOPH’S MISSION with the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project is to investigate the biology and population status of Romania’s three major species of predator—the wolf the European lynx—and to explore measures that might help conserve those populations into the future is to use the cabin as a base for three or four days of wolf-trapping will be fitted with radio collars for subsequent tracking Christoph and his coworkers have collared 13 wolves at least three of which have been illegally shot and four others have fallen cryptically silent probably because their transmitters failed One of the missing animals is a female named Timis the first Carpathian wolf Christoph ever touched and she opened his eyes to the range of lupine resourcefulness in Romania Originally trapped and collared in a remote valley near the city of Brasov Timis and her pack soon relocated themselves closer and began making nocturnal forays into town On Brasov’s south fringe was a large meadow where they could hunt rabbits they could find their way to a garbage dump rich with such toothsome possibilities as slaughterhouse scraps Timis denned near the area and produced ten pups With the aid of a remote camera set 50 meters from the den Christoph spent many hours watching her perform the intimate chores of motherhood and in the enterprising ferment of post-Communist Romania the rabbit-filled meadow is now occupied by a Shell station and a McDonald’s recently collared in another valley not far from Brasov The wolf population of the Carpathians is sizable but the animals are difficult to trap—far more difficult than wolves of the Yukon or Minnesota Christoph figures—probably because their long history of close but troubled relations with humans has left them more wary than North American wolves rich with natural blessings but much wrinkled by conflict and paradox and history here is a first explanation for everything including the ecology and behavior of Canis lupus before the imperial Romans put their stamp on the place a fearsome indigenous people who referred to their warriors as Daois wolves roamed the forests throughout Romania but were also much loathed and dreaded for their depredations against livestock In the 1950s the early Communist government under a leader named Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and killing of pups at their dens to reduce the wolf population and make the countryside safe for Marxist-Leninist lambs That anti-wolf pogrom worked well in the lowlands which were more thoroughly devoted to agriculture and heavy industry where lovely beech and oak forests were protected by a tradition of conscientious forestry and where dreams and memories of freedom survived among at least a few of the hardy rural people The Carpathians also served as a refuge for brown bear and lynx The bear population stands presently at about 5,400 a startling multitude of Ursus arctos considering that in all the western United States (excluding Alaska) represents a large fraction of all Canis lupus surviving between the Atlantic Ocean and Russia remained such a haven for large carnivores and the ironic circumstance that a certain Communist potentate This of course was the pipsqueak dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who for decades ruled Romania as though he owned it Born in the village of Scornicesti and apprenticed to a Bucharest shoemaker at age 11 Nicolae Ceausescu made his way upward as a gofer to early Communist activists during their years of persecution by a fascist regime a good place for making criminal and political contacts he was ambitious and efficacious though never brilliant sliding into this opening and then that one eventually gaining ultimate control as general secretary of the Communist Party in 1965 a lofty title that paired him with an earlier supreme leader the right-wing dictator who had ruled Romania during World War II Ceausescu distanced himself from certain Soviet policies such as the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and thereby made himself America’s favorite Communist autocrat at least during the administrations of Nixon His manner of domestic governance remained merely Stalinism in a Romanian hat but for a long time the United States didn’t notice Ceausescu’s dark little shadow cast itself across Romania for 25 years with the help of his Securitate apparatus of secret police and informers which included as many as three million people in a nation of just 23 million Such institutional menace wasn’t uncommon in the Communist bloc Romania under Ceausescu had a few brave dissenters but not the same sort of robust underground network of dissidents that existed in the Soviet Union or There’s a nervous old Romanian proverb counseling caution: Vorbesti de lup si lupul e la usa Speak of the wolf and he’s at your door and social policies were as wrongheaded as they were eccentric he had that self-important yearning for independence from Moscow and so he pushed Romania to develop its own capacities in oil refining During the 1970s his industrialization initiative sucked off a huge fraction of the country’s GNP and generated a big burden in foreign loans; then in the 1980s he became obsessed with paying off those loans and made the Romanian populace endure ferocious austerity in order to do it He exported petroleum products and food while his own people suffered in underheated apartments without enough to eat which essentially meant bulldozing old neighborhoods and villages in order to force their inhabitants into high-rise urban housing projects where he could better control the flow of vital resources His systematization created a larger proletariat living amid ugly urban blight and his industrialization resulted in some horrendous point-source pollution problems such as the smelter at Zlatna and the gold-reprocessing plant at Baia Mare which just recently let slip a vast wet fart of toxic sludge from one of its containment ponds into the Danube drainage But for some reason Ceausescu did not become obsessed with exporting timber and so the Carpathian highlands remained wild and sylvan while other parts of the country grew grim The Conducator himself lived a life of splendorous self-indulgence and paranoia He had food-tasters to protect him from poisoning who was his full partner in megalomania and his chief adviser on how to govern badly he sealed himself away in palatial residences letting the people see him mainly through stagey televised ceremonials For bolstering his ego and political luster he depended also on occasional mass rallies for which tens of thousands of citizens were mandatorily mustered to express—or anyway All the other Communist leaders who got dumped during that dizzy time CEAUSESCU’S SHADOW still lingers in some places including the snowed-over road that may or may not eventually carry us to Fata lui Ilie The spruce trees are large and heavily flocked with snow on another steep switchback below a ridgeline I wonder aloud whether this route was originally cut for hauling timber this was a hunting road for Ceausescu,” Christoph tells me And his people would come in by four-wheel-drive to organize the hunt.” Among other fatuities Ceausescu prided himself as a great killer of trophy-size bears Although his name went into record books and his trophies can still be seen at a museum in the town of Posada Ceausescu’s actual accomplishments were contemptible: squeezing off kill-shots at animals that had been located so long as he arrogated the country’s bear-hunting rights largely to himself The end of that year was when the ground shifted for everyone—carnivores when we pass a spur road to Ceausescu’s helicopter pad But by now Christoph and Barbara are far ahead on the snowmobiles and I’m skiing through darkness with only Uli’s dim headlamp as a point of guidance the new government is led by a center-right coalition of parliamentarians the Carpathian forests are being privatized to their great peril and all idle contemplation of the pungent contingencies of recent Romanian history is best left for a time when I’m not threatened by hypothermia THE WOLF KNOWN AS TSIGANU was trapped on December 19 and release were done by a Romanian wildlife technician named Marius Scurtu a sturdy young man with an unassuming grin and a missing front tooth Marius had blossomed into an important member of the Carnivore Project absorbing well Christoph’s field training in wolf capture and showing great appetite for the hard backcountry legwork Besides relating the wolf to that particular valley the name he picked—Tsiganu—means “Gypsy.” He was notable for the lankiness of his legs and the length of his canine teeth he has rejoined a small pack of four or five animals though whether he himself is the alpha male remains uncertain He now broadcasts his locator beeps on a frequency of 148.6 megahertz and several times each week either Marius or another project technician goes out with a map but from his prints and other evidence in the snow a good tracker can learn what he has been doing In the past month he has killed at least three roe deer On a warmish day not long before our misadventure on the trail toward Fata lui Ilie Gordon and I skied along with a tracker named Peter Surth We followed him up a tight little canyon into the foothills above a village through wet heavy snow along the bank of a small stream but within less than a mile we came to a kill confirmed that Tsiganu and his pack hadn’t gone hungry we passed an old log barn from which we could hear the companionable gurgles and neck bells of sheep Moments later we met a man in country clothes Peter took another listen with the receiver catching a strong signal that seemed to place Tsiganu within 300 yards But the tempo of beeps also indicated that the animal was active and therefore his position could change fast When Peter listened again he got a much different bearing this one suggesting that Tsiganu and his pack were below us on the opposite slope of the creek valley we’d just left Or maybe the earlier signal had been deceptive because of echo effects from the terrain Such are the ambiguities in tracking an animal that doesn’t want to be found lay a snowbound hamlet of thatch-roofed cottages and a few shapely farmhouses with gabled and turreted tin roofs all hung like a saddle blanket across the steep sides of the ridge It seemed a mirage of bucolic tranquility from the late Middle Ages Gordon and I had been there a few days earlier with another project worker we had skied up from another valley on the far side stopping to visit an elderly couple named Gheorghe and Aurica Surdu The Surdus live in a trim little cottage they built 50 years ago to replace a 500-year-old cottage on the same spot Aurica is a pretty woman of seventysome years who himself had boot-kicked up through the snow for a Saturday visit Passing from deep snowbanks and icy air into a small narrow room with a low ceiling and a woodstove upon which simmered a pot of rose-hip tea we commenced to be steam-cooked with hospitality wearing a head scarf and thick-waled corduroy vest spoke as little English as Gordon and I did Romanian She stood by the stove and fussed cheerily while Andrei traded news with Mosorel The tea was deep-simmered and laced with honey poured us heated shots of his mother’s homemade apple-pear brandy Tsuica is more than just the national moonshine; it’s a form of communion Mosorel’s right hand was swaddled in a large white bandage It testified to a saw accident several months earlier in which Mosorel had sliced off his pinky and broken his fourth finger while cutting up an old chest for usable lumber Sometimes too he’s a tailor; his nickname means Thread.” Until the saw accident he had also been pulling shifts at a factory down in the nearby town and more than enough apples and pears for tsuica Mosorel is a versatile man of diverse outputs The hand injury didn’t seem to dampen his spirit possibly because some joyous aptitude for survival runs like a dominant gene through the family As the sweet liquor spread its heat in our bellies the talk turned in that direction—to survival Gheorghe and Aurica Surdu had been required to supply 800 liters of milk each year to the state things had changed; no longer were Gheorghe and Aurica obliged to deliver up a large share of their farm produce is life better or worse since the fall of Ceausescu The talk rattled forward in Romanian for a few moments until Andrei paused and told me that Mosorel had just said something important “At least we’re not scared now,” he had said at the mouth of the small river valley draining from Fata lui Ilie and other peaks sits a peculiar little town called Zarnesti paved with packed snow at this time of year run between old-style Transylvanian row houses tucked behind tall courtyard walls closed with big wooden gates carrying passengers on the occasional Sunday outing Heavy horse carts with rubber tires haul sacks of corn Young mothers pull toddlers and grocery bags on metal-frame sleds There are also a few automobiles—mostly beat-up Romanian Dacias—creeping between the snowbanks a cluster of five-story concrete apartment blocks from the Communist era like a histogram charting the grim triumph of central planning Beside the train tracks sits a large pulp mill that eats trees from the surrounding forests and extrudes the result as paper and industrial cellulose You can walk all afternoon along the winding lanes of Zarnesti looping back through the post-office square For years Zarnesti was off-limits to travelers because of another industrial plant in town the one commonly known as “the bicycle factory.” The bicycle factory was really a munitions factory when Romania was menaced by bellicose neighbors during the buildup toward World War II as window dressing—a few Victoria bicycles For decades it was Zarnesti’s leading industry But the market for Romanian-made rockets and mortars has been wan since the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact the workforce has shrunk to a fraction of its former size The town’s economy now resembles a comatose patient on a gurney and a few of those people are energized with new ideas and new hopes One new idea is large-carnivore ecotourism when Christoph Promberger was contacted by a British conservation group that had heard about the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project and wanted to bring paying visitors to this remote corner of Europe for a chance to see wolves and bears but to another small community nearby—and the money spent on lodging and food Two years later Christoph and his colleagues repeated the experiment as an independent venture They welcomed eight different tour groups totaling some 70 people vacation boardinghouses run by local families By now the wolf fieldwork had come to focus on the wooded foothills and flats of the Barsa Valley which stretches 30 miles into the mountains above Zarnesti Although the likelihood of actually glimpsing a wolf or a brown bear in the wild is always low even for experienced trackers like Marius and Peter some nature-loving travelers were quite satisfied to hike or ride horses through Carpathian forests in which a sighting were attracting people who wouldn’t come just for the edelweiss and primrose One of the pensiunes where the travelers stay is owned by Gigi Popa a 46-year-old businessman whose trim mustache and gently solicitous manner conceal the soul of a risk-taker and a performer Give him a window of economic opportunity—he’ll climb through it Gigi worked as a cash-register repairman for a large inefficient government enterprise charged with servicing machines all over Romania The machines in question were mediocre at best and destined to be obsoletized by modern electronic versions Gigi couldn’t divine all the coming upheavals but he could see clearly enough that mechanical Romanian cash registers were not a wave to ride into the future I change quickly my job and my direction,” Gigi says He got out of cash-register repair and opened a small grocery and dry-goods store in the back of the house and German travelers who would be coming to Zarnesti drawn by the wolves in the mountains but needing lodging in town Gigi promptly remodeled his home and his identity again with four guest rooms ready the first summer and another four the following year He now plays an important partnership role to the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project’s program of tourism Gigi’s pensiune is where Gordon and I have been sleeping when we’re not sublimely geschtuck in the mountains One morning I ask Gigi the same question I asked Mosorel: Has the new order made life better or worse “The good thing of the revolution is everybody can do what he have dreams,” Gigi says And in Ceausescu time you can do no thing for your own Must be on the same”—he makes a glass-ceiling gesture—”level a few good ideas and a willingness to gamble on them can raise himself and his family above the dreary old limit is that free-market entrepreneurship involves far more personal stress than a government job in cash-register maintenance Christoph and Barbara noticed a sizable construction job under way in the Barsa Valley The foundation was being laid for a hundred-room hotel This was not long after Christoph had begun discussions with the town mayor about a vision of sustainable ecotourism for Zarnesti The crucial premise of that vision was to let the Barsa Valley remain undeveloped while the infrastructure to support visitors would be built as small-scale operations down in the town If the valley itself were consumed by suburban sprawl and recreational development then the carnivore habitat would be badly fragmented if not destroyed and the Large Carnivore Project would be forced to move channeling visitors to whatever small pensiunes might be available in Zarnesti Everyone had seemed to agree that this was the sensible approach Yet now the hotel construction revealed that someone else—an investor from the city of Brasov 50 miles away—intended to exploit the area on an ambitious scale And belatedly it was revealed that the town council had approved open-development zoning for the entire valley “So this was disaster,” Christoph remembers thinking Christoph himself had to leave the country just then for a short visit back in Germany who joined the project as a specialist in rural development hastily shaped their best argument for valley protection so that Andrei could present their case to the mayor Zarnesti’s mayor at the time was a man named Gheorghe Lupu formerly an engineer in the bicycle factory before Romanian bicycles lost their tactical military appeal kept his office door open to drop-by callers and described himself jokingly as a “cowboy mayor.” About the problems of Zarnesti Tax revenues yielded only 10 percent of what they did before the revolution he could tell you; the pulp mill had laid off 2,000 people the bicycle factory even more; the sewage system and the gas-supply network needed work; the roads too cried out for repair There was little basis to assume that this harried man would muster much sympathy for protecting wolf habitat—notwithstanding the fact that his own name translates as “wolf.” But would he be able to grasp the connection between large carnivores having to absent himself while the whole Barsa Valley stood in jeopardy he received a terse electronic message on his mobile phone saying: “Lupu stopped everything.” The mayor had moved to reverse the council’s decision Let the tourists eat and sleep in Zarnesti and pay their visits to the wild landscape as day-trippers He had embraced the idea of zoning protection for the valley BUT TO ANNOUNCE a policy of protection is one thing; real safety against the forces of change is another Barbara and I get a noisy reminder of that difference during an excursion to set traps for her lynx study We’re twentysome miles above Zarnesti where the Barsa road narrows to a single snowmobile trail loaded with custom-made leg-hold traps and other gear me riding my skis at the end of a tow rope behind In the fresh snow at trailside we’ve seen multiple sets of lynx prints as well as varied signs of other animals—deep tracks from several red deer that came wallowing down off a slope even one set from a restless bear that has interrupted its hibernation for a stroll just as Barbara finishes camouflaging her last trap we hear the yowl of another snowmobile ascending the valley At first I assume that it must be Christoph’s I see it’s a large recreational Polaris driven by a middle-aged stranger in a fur hat She exchanges a few sentences in Romanian with the stranger He seems rather jovial; Barbara speaks curtly The man swings his snowmobile around us and goes ripping on up the valley Probably a wealthy Italian with a second home When he heard what Barbara was doing—setting traps to catch lynx—he thought she meant trapping for pelts When she added that it’s for a radio-tracking study he graced her with his patronizing and ignorant approval “She asked if it would be dangerous to continue “Keep out.” The upper valley is closed to joy-riding traffic along with development sprawl and other symptoms of the new liberty and affluence are now a damn sight more threatening to the lynx population—and the wolves spoliatory hunting once practiced by Nicolae Ceausescu Barbara has never before seen a recreational snowmobile in Zarnesti There are so many rich guys in Brasov now.” Christoph receives a disturbing piece of news by mobile phone from Marius: Tsiganu has been shot but it seems that a couple of boar hunters let fly at the wolf for no particular reason except his wolfhood following a trail of radio beeps and blood spoor through the wet snow Before long he will either find Tsiganu’s fresh carcass or else run out of daylight without knowing quite what’s what Still there’s no definite news of Tsiganu I set out tracking with Marius and two project assistants We park the Dacia truck on a roadside above a village and begin hoofing along a farm lane into the foothills We follow a snow-covered trail on a climbing traverse between meadows beyond the last of the farmhouses and the last of the barking dogs past two men hauling logs with a pair of oxen solid fellow with good wind and a long stride He cares about this animal—both about Canis lupus as a denizen of the Romanian mountains But Marius is a home-bred Romanian forestry worker and his attitude is complexly grounded in local realities “Last year the wolf was killing for me two sheep,” he says as we walk Was like an invitation to eat.” Some farmers moan about such losses which has lived as a predator in these mountains for thousands of years should now transform itself into a vegetarian As for hunters who would offhandedly kill a wolf for its fur and in self-defense he wouldn’t hesitate to kill a bear It’s much nicer simply to go out with his dogs and know that in this place the ancient animals are still present we pick up a signal from Tsiganu’s collar toward a steep wooded valley that descends from a castle-shaped rock formation among the peaks above we get another signal on roughly the same line and now the tempo of beeps indicates that Tsiganu is alive—at least barely alive Marius and I continue the traverse until we find a single set of wolf tracks softened in outline by at least one afternoon’s melting Or is he lying near death with a slug lodged against his backbone while his packmates have gone on without him post-holing our way through knee-deep crust We round a bend that brings us into the valley below the castle-shaped peak Marius disconnects the directional antenna from the receiver using the antenna cable’s nub like a stethoscope He tips back his head and offers a loud wolfish howl a rather good imitation of a pack’s contact call dim echo of his voice coming off the mountain Then from up in the beeches comes a new sound and tech with access to unlimited digital content from Outside Network's iconic brands leader in the production of sustainable packaging announces the appointment of Marius Juncanariu as general manager of the paper packaging factory in Zarnesti Marius Juncanariu takes over this role from Alan Young who will continue his activity within the DS Smith Group The production unit in Zarnesti is the largest of its kind in Romania and provides the necessary for almost half of the local market With over 15 years of professional experience and multiple specializations including areas such as finance Marius Juncanariu joined DS Smith Zarnesti in March 2018 “Taking over the position of General Manager of DS Smith Zarnesti is a professional honour and represents which will soon celebrate 170 years of tradition care for the environment and involvement in the development of the local community we will be able to achieve our objectives and to successfully implement all the planned investments concretely contributing to the development of the local economy and of the city of Zarnesti,” said Marius Juncanariu The DS Smith factory in Zarnesti is the largest packaging paper production unit in Romania providing the necessary for almost half of the local market and uses as raw material 100% paper and cardboard waste DS Smith has in Romania a center for coordinating recycling operations in Bucharest two recycling warehouses in Otopeni and Cluj-Napoca and two packaging factories in Ghimbav and Timișoara The wolf caught on camera chasing a cyclist on the road between Poiana Brașov and the city of Braşov could be shot It is actually a female wolf that was running scared on the road A meeting was held on Monday with representatives from the Veterinary Health Directorate the National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry These specialists concluded that the animal is most likely rabid The wolf was filmed running on the road and through the forest without fear of honking cars approval for the shooting rests in the hands of the Ministry of Environment He contacted the people managing the bear sanctuary near Zărnești "I contacted the Milioane de Prieteni Association (AMP) which operates the Bear Sanctuary in Zărnești they have shown willingness to take in the wolf and then take care of it for as long as necessary I personally spoke with Minister Mircea Fechet to ensure that the solution proposed by AMP has reached the decision-makers and to support it We await the ministry's decision and hope that the wolf will reach Zărnești safely. Safe for both people and the wolf," wrote Allen Coliban on Facebook. The Association has outlined what they are willing to do for the famous wolf: "We commit to keeping it in quarantine for as long as necessary conducting tests (rabies virus detection tests) to determine if it is sick and could endanger other animals and caring for it until the end of its life Considering that the animal is part of a protected species by law we hope that the decision you make will be in its favor and that you will agree to have it taken in and cared for by the AMP team and the collaborating AMP doctor who has extensive experience in caring for wild animals."