In our crowded world, populations of large carnivores like tigers, cougars, bears and wolves often are fragmented into small subpopulations which might cause problems with inbreeding and loss of genetic material. Conservationists therefore want to keep these subpopulations as large as possible, which is in conflict with local interestst of farmers and big game hunters. The Scandinavian wolf population is a typical exponent of this dilemma, that came to its peak during a court trial in Norway, where different scientists took different sides. To resolve this intra-science controversy and generally clarify the role of genetics in conservation biology, a group of international experts in genetics and wolf ecology were invited to discuss these issues with Scandinavian colleagues and managers during three days. Here is the report of this seminal meeting, indispensable to anyone interested in the conservation of large carnivores.