“It is very important that the wolf is back. It is good for biodiversity. But it is also very important that the wolf specifically chooses nature and not built-up areas.” That’s what behavioral biologist Diederik van Liere says in the TV Drenthe program The State of Drenthe.
“Those wolves are sheep killers,” says Van Liere. “But let’s not lose sight of the nuance. In the Netherlands there are also many wolves who do not kill sheep. How can those wolves choose something different to eat? With the same density of people and sheep? That question is never asked, “But it is a very important fact. If you understand why the other wolf chooses that other food, you can steer accordingly. Then you can take preventive measures so that future wolf generations ignore the sheep.”
Learned behavior is very important. What does a cub learn from its father and mother? “It starts with raising wolves. A wolf is not preprogrammed to kill sheep. He learns that from his parents.”
Research has been done. “The education of the cubs takes quite a long time, just like with humans. They spend at least ten months with mom and dad. They learn to hunt prey from their parents. That can be a deer, but also a sheep. then eventually leaves the nest, he has received a frame of reference from his parents: “this is food”. Such a wolf pup then knows the smell and taste of a sheep, how to hunt and kill it. All learned from his parents.”
Van Liere warns that all attention goes to the wolves that kill sheep, while there are also wolves walking through Drenthe that don’t. “But because we don’t see what they do eat, we don’t hear about that.”
One option to keep the wolf from the herd is to raise the sheep. “One thing a sheep can do very well and a wolf can’t is to climb. For example, you can build a ramp from hay bales. Then imagine the wolf looking up and seeing a bunch of menacing sheep’s heads. Then it really won’t come up .”
The behavioral biologist received a lot of criticism for his alternative solutions. “And yet a government should welcome these initiatives. We have a problem, don’t we? So let’s all think about good solutions and not just focus on wolf-resistant fences. Only then will it be possible for sheep farmers and wolves can coexist,” concludes behavioral biologist Van Liere.