It was a shock for hobby sheep farmer Edwin van Pelt from Uffelte. This morning he found three dead, one seriously injured and three slightly injured sheep in the pasture at De Broeken in Wittelte.
“One has had his chest eaten away, others have bite marks in the neck.” The sheep have since been euthanized by a veterinarian. “I’m a tough man, but my heart is broken now,” says the emotional hobby farmer.
Van Pelt keeps twenty adult sheep and about thirty lambs as a hobby. “I had already sold part of that when the wolf showed up in this area.”
Because it is clear to Van Pelt that the wolf is the culprit. With a fence of one and a half meters high made of sheep wire, the hobby farmer thought he could keep the alleged wolf out. That did not work. “The wolf has not only caused animal suffering in this area, but also human suffering,” Van Pelt sobs. “It’s done for me now. I’m quitting.”
How the suspected wolf managed to get to the sheep is not visible from the fence. “I think he jumped over it.”
BIJ12 is the agency that handles wolf damage for provinces, among other things. The agency conducts DNA tests on reports of dead sheep. BIJ12 also takes samples from the sheep in Wittelte. Another dead sheep was found there on 17 August. Near Wittelte, in Dwingeloo, 14 dead sheep were found in August. But it was also hit several times in August in Nieuw-Balinge, Grolloo and Wijster.
It is not yet clear whether the wolf is the culprit. DNA research by BIJ12 has yet to prove that. The agency is also investigating two cows in Wapserveen that may have fallen prey to the wolf this week. According to experts, a wolf attack on cows is unlikely, but BIJ12 must provide a definitive answer.
Another animal that would have been attacked by a wolf is a calf in Uffelte. The young animal did not survive Wednesday night’s attack. BIJ12 also conducts research in this case.
A wolf flock has settled in the Drents-Friese Wold. Wolf cubs have also been born in that region. There may be even more wolves in Drenthe, but they have not yet officially settled in the province and are still seen as stray wolves.