Three pregnant sheep belonging to sheep farmer Stefan Worst in Vledder probably fell victim to a wolf last night. One sheep died immediately and he had to put two sheep to sleep.
The consultant from BIJ12 who took DNA, checked the entire fence and found that it was placed properly. BIJ12 was not available to confirm this. The province of Drenthe says it will also have an investigation carried out tomorrow into the quality of the fencing.
More than two weeks ago, the sheep farmer also had to deal with an attack by a wolf. Then the Drenthe wolf consultant found some defects in the fence. The sheep farmer says he has tackled this. Last night’s attack was on a different plot, by the way. In both attacks, DNA research has yet to show that it is indeed a wolf, but according to Worst, the type of injury points in that direction.
“It is of course terrible,” Worst responds to the new attack. “I’ve brought in all my sheep now, except for three flocks. There are about 160 of them and I didn’t have room for them in the barn. I’ve put my farm equipment outside to make room for the sheep.”
In an attempt to capture how the wolf proceeds, Worst set up cameras for a while last summer, but the plot is so large it’s impracticable. “A camera can only image an area of 30 meters and this concerns a plot of 8 hectares. Then I would need 60 cameras. They cost 80 to 300 euros each. In addition, the costs for the batteries are added You also have to change them every week,” says Worst.
The quality of a wolf-resistant fence is important to determine whether there is a problem wolf. And such a problem wolf could be shot. The Interprovincial Wolf Plan states that a wolf can be classified as a problem wolf if it repeatedly attacks livestock that is behind a well-placed wolf-resistant fence.
If that is not registered, it will not hold up in court and no shooting permit will be issued. What further complicates the identification of a problem wolf is that the wolf plan does not specify how often ‘repeated’ is.
Even if the same wolf would have broken through a wolf-resistant fence several times now, then shooting is still far from being discussed. Because according to the wolf plan, an attempt must first be made to adjust the behavior of the wolf. And there must be a favorable conservation status, and that has not yet been achieved in the Netherlands.