Anger, frustration and sadness. That brought livestock farmers Albert ten Heuvel and Anique van de Zwaag from Fluitenberg to the provincial government this morning to deliver their dead goat and broadcast it live on social media. According to the farmer, the animal was grabbed by a wolf and later had to be put down by a vet.
He was affectionately called Cow Goat. More pets than cattle for the family and children. Grandpa used to have goats and this headstrong remained. Ten Heuvel once placed him among the cows because everything went its own way everywhere. Cow goat lived among the cows ever since. Until yesterday. The animal was seized fifteen meters behind the farm. According to the farmer, it is certain that it was a wolf. He went after the animal himself with the car and hit the predator. “He’s definitely lame.”
Frustration drips from the farmer when deputies Henk Jumelet and Henk Brink come downstairs. “This problem must be solved. So far, that animal has already cost me 31,000 euros and I only receive a few hundred euros in compensation,” Ten Heuvel says. “My wife and children don’t even dare to stay at home alone anymore. That wolf has demolished our goat, right behind the farm. In the meantime, nothing happens. There are only meetings, but you can dismiss them in three sentences. It doesn’t get any further .”
It is the anger that preoccupies many livestock farmers. Cattle are seized by wolves, farmers are now struggling with the nitrogen problem and there is a demand for a new form of agriculture. That hurts Ten Heuvel. “I’ve been farming the way the government wants me to for three years, but I have to keep all my animals in the stable because of such a stupid wolf. Meanwhile, in The Hague, they act like the whole world is crazy.”
His cows have broken loose five times in the past four weeks. “What if a car crashes into such an animal and someone dies? Am I liable for what that bad wolf did? That cow is mine and I have to prove that it broke loose because there was a wolf. far it has come. If the population wants to have a desired nature with that wolf, then the taxpayer should also pay. Then the farmer has to transfer some extra money.”
The Fluitenberger can count on understanding from the provincial government. Deputy Brink, who is also a farmer, also had a visit from a wolf at his cattle. Like Deputy Jumelet, he understands the impotence and dissatisfaction of Ten Heuvel and other farmers. “But the question is what you can do about it quickly in the short term. We also have legislation.”
That legislation is European. Still, Drenthe is looking for an opportunity to do something against the wolf. Jumelet: “I want sheep and cows in the meadow as we always had in Drenthe. But it is not easy to do something about it and that has everything to do with protection. I have daily contact with MPs and ministers about this, because it can no longer be that way. That is the message from Drenthe and now also from Friesland, Overijssel and Limburg. Questions have been asked in parliament and we want answers to them. We have got the ball rolling, because it is now really a problem it will be. But I can’t arrange anything in a day.”
It is a thin line on which the deputies are walking. In society there are also other people with different opinions. “We have to do the right thing, in a good way and well substantiated,” continues Jumelet.
This does not solve the problem for Albert ten Heuvel and Anique van de Zwaag. “I no longer dare to get wood from the back of the shed in the evening. My children are no longer allowed to play alone behind the house, in our backyard,” says Van der Zwaag. “They are at home today, they are also up to here. They no longer sleep.”