A Scottish highlander calf from Het Drentse Landschap that was walking on the Doldersummerveld with four equally young congeners, was probably attacked by a wolf last weekend. The animal was so badly beaten that a vet later had to put it to sleep.
The 1-year-old calves had just been taken away from their mothers two weeks ago and moved to another site in the nature reserve, says forester Bertil Zoer. “At one point, one area is full if you look at the grazing pressure, while in another area additional basins are needed. That’s why these five animals were moved. There was also a herd with adult animals on the area where they now roamed, but they hadn’t found a connection with that yet. That’s why these five were still running separately.”
The five calves were able to live independently. “And then at a certain point we remove them from the mothers, because there is simply too little to eat in an area. In retrospect you can say that it was an unwise decision in this case. These animals were still too vulnerable. Normal speaking, an adult Scottish highlander is not a wolf’s prey.”
“It is a learning process for everyone in the Netherlands to live with the wolf. That also applies to us,” continues the forester of Het Drentse Landschap. “We are working hard on how to do this. Among other things, by placing wolf grids.”
The nature organization knows that the wolf roams more often through areas with highlanders, including on the Doldersummerveld, says Zoer. “We have camera traps in many places and we regularly see a wolf walking next to a herd. The calves then move closer to the mothers. They panicked a bit the first time and became restless, but now they are used to it and they stay stand still. Nothing will happen then.”
A hiker saw the injured calf walking last Saturday. It had a big wound on its behind. The hiker made a report to the district manager of Het Drentse Landschap, who called a vet. The doctor decided to put the animal out of his misery. DNA research must show whether the ‘perpetrator’ is really a wolf, but Het Drentse Landschap assumes that because of the injuries.
In the near future, the nature organization will consider the question of how to proceed to prevent such accidents in the future.