There is a huge disparity between farmers’ fears that their cattle, sheep or other farm animals will be attacked and killed by wolves on the pastures and the actual cracks. This is the result of data from the State Office for the Environment (LfU), which is responsible for monitoring wolves in Bavaria and assessing the damage caused by them.
The figures refer to the monitoring year 2021/2022. During this period, the LfU received 99 reports of dead farm animals, some of which were several, suspected of having been killed by a wolf. The suspicion was confirmed in seven cases. At the same time, the numbers make it clear that poaching dogs pose at least as much of a threat to livestock. Eight of the 99 suspected cases were undoubtedly due to dogs. A monitoring year runs from May 1st of one year to April 31st of the following year.
Experts like René Gomringer are not surprised by the numbers. The 69-year-old agricultural engineer and sheep farmer in the Altmühltal was the managing director of the Bavarian Sheep Farmers’ Association for many years and is an expert in livestock protection. He is convinced that poaching dogs are currently a much greater threat to sheep than wolves. Even if the situation is different than 20 years ago. “It was usually the case that dogs were let out by their owners at night for whatever reason and then broke into the flocks of sheep in groups of two or three,” says Gomringer. “Today, on the other hand, hunting dogs are usually accompanied, but get out of the control of their owners and then chase sheep or other livestock.”
According to Gomringer, the number of attacks by dogs has even increased recently – especially in regions where sheep farming and local recreation or tourism meet, like at home in the Altmühltal, in low mountain ranges like the Rhön or on the alpine pastures in Upper Bavaria and the Allgaeu. In any case, Gomringer is certain that more sheep are currently being killed by dogs than by wolves in Bavaria.
In 61 of the 99 suspected cases of wolves in 2021/2022, it was unlikely, impossible or impossible to determine when the carcasses were examined that the farm animals had fallen victim to one or more wolves. Here, for example, the injuries were atypical for a wolf. The predators usually kill their prey with a targeted bite in the throat and then open their abdominal cavity. If a dead animal lacks a throat bite or has a closed abdominal cavity, it is less likely that a wolf killed it. If the victim has multiple, shallow bite marks on its hindquarters and hind legs, this is an indication that it was rushed and repeatedly snapped at. Such behavior is typical of hunting dogs. The wolf experts at the LfU speak of an “unprofessional grab”.
“A protective fence is of little use against dogs”
In 38 cases, the suspicion of a wolf was so strong that the prey was genetically examined. It was found that in addition to wolves and dogs, foxes (four cases) and a golden jackal (one case) also hunted grazing animals. In another five cases, it turned out that the farm animals were already dead or stillborn when dogs also attacked and ate them. In the remaining 13 cases, genetic analysis could no longer determine whether a wolf or another animal had killed the livestock.
From Gomringer’s point of view, the figures from the LfU confirm two important points. “As long as a wolf has enough deer, roe deer or other prey, it usually doesn’t hunt sheep,” says the expert, who also works for the Bund Naturschutz. Gomringer cites his home region as an example. A she-wolf has been living in the Altmühltal for three years now – completely inconspicuously. At least she hasn’t attacked a sheep yet. The region is considered to be rich in wildlife.
The other point: sheep are more vulnerable to poaching dogs than to wolves. “Because a protective fence is of little use against dogs,” says Gomringer. “If such a dog is out of control, he just jumps over it, like he was taught to do in dog school or elsewhere from his owner.” A wolf cannot jump, it tries to crawl under the protective fence. If he’s stable enough, he won’t make it.
It had already become known last week that the killing of sheep this summer on the alpine pastures in the mountains near Garmisch-Partenkirchen is not due to one or more wolves, which are suspected to be in the region. But also on the poaching dogs. However, two gene samples from sheep carcasses are currently being evaluated.