For the second time in two weeks, a pony was found mauled in a meadow in Wittelte. Although DNA research has yet to show whether it is actually an attack by the wolf, owner Jan Bosker has no doubts about it.
“He has bite wounds in the neck and the back has been pulled loose”, dairy farmer Bosker describes how he found the pony this morning. “That must have been a wolf, he may have been frightened and left, because the entrails are otherwise intact. He did not eat any of it.”
Bosker’s pony has recently been put in the stable at night as a precaution. “But he’s quite stubborn, and difficult to get in. I was alone last night and it didn’t work out.”
So the night in the open air was fatal for the pony. Bosker is disappointed. “He was 32 years old, my father got him from the vet. It’s not a pet, but it does have emotional value. He walked between the horse and the foal every day. And normally he would come to the fence in the morning, too. now I saw him lying there and thought: he is lying very still. I hope that he was dead at once, and that he had not suffered.”
A pony belonging to a neighbor of Bosker was seized at the end of September. BIJ12, which handles wolf claims for provinces, is conducting research to determine whether a wolf is actually the culprit. A pony that was bitten to death in Dwingeloo was a victim of the wolf on August 10, reports BIJ12.
During a meeting about the wolf last Monday in Diever, many horse owners made themselves heard, they fear that the wolf is going after their animals more often now that there have been more reports of attacks on larger animals such as ponies and (young) cows.
Bosker followed the meeting and shares the concern that many people expressed that evening. “I already keep my cows and young stock indoors. In the future also the horses, it is not familiar,” he says. “In the Netherlands we would like to have cattle in the pasture, but that is almost no longer possible. It cannot be the case that all the animals have to be kept in a stable for a few wolves.”