They called her a witch, because she chatted with animals and owned a terrorist-crow, known for stealing gold and attacking bicyclists. A lynx slept in her bed, and she shared her roof with a tamed boar. Simona Kossak was a scientist, ecologist and the author of award-winning films – as well as an activist who fought to protect Europe’s oldest forest.
– The Extraordinary Life of Simons Kossak, Janusz R. Kowalczyk, Culture.pl, July 2015

This is a story about Simona Kossak. There’s nothing here I don’t love. They called Simona a witch. Of course, she wasn’t. She was smart, resourceful, and, how can I say this … her insides resonated with the insides of any life she happened upon. And that life was, in turn, drawn to her.

She spent more than 30 years in a wooden hut in the Białowieża Forest – without electricity or access to running water. Simona believed that life ought to be simple and close to nature. Living amongst animals, she found something that she never could with her fellow humans.
– The Extraordinary Life of Simons Kossak, Janusz R. Kowalczyk, Culture.pl, July 2015

The crow really was a menace. It’s amazing it took to Simona, and to a neighbor who shared the house with her, Lech Wilczek.

Simona’s friend says: Once he stole my car keys. And Lech [Wilczek] said: ‘Don’t worry, he’ll bring them back’. He took a metal rod and scared the crow: ‘You sonofabitch, you took keys from a friend?!’ He and I said to Korasek that if he brings them back, he’ll get an egg, and if he doesn’t, he’ll get a blow with the rod. And the crow perhaps understood this, because after a moment, he flew up to me, furious, with the keys in his beak and threw them onto a table!
– The Extraordinary Life of Simons Kossak, Janusz R. Kowalczyk, Culture.pl, July 2015

Leck was a photographer so we are blessed with many photos of Simona out in the wild communing with the animals that became the focus of her research. Just Google Simona Kossak and choose Images.

Here are a couple of the sites I read. Some great photos too:
The Extraordinary Life of Simons Kossak, Janusz R. Kowalczyk, Culture.pl, July 2015
Simona Kossak, The Human Exception, April 2022

The boar was brought to Lech and Simona when it was one day old. It grew, but by that time, there was a bond.

“Man is also a part of nature, and there are no more [or] less important parts in it. A flower, a star, a stone, a man is permeated with the same divine spark. Those who learn to sympathize with plants and animals can understand others and will be better for themselves, that is, they will do nothing against their nature. ” – Simona Kossak

* All of the photos on this page are from the Culture site and were taken by Lech Wilczek.