Sheepherder Erika Visser from Doldersum has been working with herd protection dogs for a while now and she likes it. Now that her Maremma Mountain Dogs have had puppies, she makes them available at cost price to animal keepers who also want to work with these dogs to ward off the wolf.
“It is our wish that these dogs are used as herd protection dogs for animal keepers who experience a direct threat from the wolf. I decided to do so because a year ago we received three adult dogs from Italy through a donation from the community and they now have young ones. We want to share that with others who also need a dog and would like to work with a dog.”
She hasn’t had a wolf attack since Visser got the Maremmas. “We had a last attack on January 7, 2022. Then we had a very young herd protection dog in the herd. As a result of that attack, we got those adult dogs from Italy. We have not had any attacks in our herd since then. The entire package of wolf-proofing measures we have has resulted in our sheep remaining safe to date.”
Visser grazes part of the Drents-Friese Wold with her herd De Ommekeer for Staatsbosbeheer. In the middle of wolf territory. She uses wolf-resistant grids with a lot of power, good clocks with an alarm that gives a signal at home if something goes wrong with the power, camera surveillance and therefore herd protection dogs. “I don’t believe there are wolf-proof measures that are 100 percent opaque, but we can do our best.”
According to her, it is not the intention that the dogs attack the wolf. “The intention is that when the wolf comes, it sees the fence as a barrier. Then there are also dogs barking behind it that say: this is my territory. With which the dog says: I’ll get you. Or at least they threaten to do so. They are impressive dogs; they are very large. That means that you make the wolf want to go under wires. Because he knows that he is risking his life and that is for a predator in the game a big risk. Somewhere in the wolf’s system it is ingrained that if he is injured he will die. So he will weigh this carefully.”
Watch the report with Erika Visser here:
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