The excitement is great among the alpine farmers in the Werdenfelser Land since they have repeatedly discovered badly injured or even killed sheep on the mountain pastures around Garmisch-Partenkirchen throughout the summer. Some of the animals had been cruelly mauled, they had bite marks all over their bodies. The injuries were so severe that even the sheep that initially survived the attacks had to be killed.
The peasants are very upset. It was immediately clear to them that only a wolf could have been the culprit. According to the region, there may even be several roaming the alpine pastures this summer. “It is unacceptable that we have to fetch our sheep from the alpine pastures prematurely just so that they are safe from the wolf,” says Sepp Glatz, chairman of the Upper Bavarian Alpine Association. “The Free State must act now.”
Into the heated mood now hits the news that it wasn’t a wolf that killed the sheep. But a wild dog. In an internal circular mail to the Large Carnivores Network – i.e. to the group of people who are officially responsible for investigating attacks by predators in Bavaria – the State Office for the Environment (LfU) listed the results of genetic tests on torn sheep from the Werdenfelser Land. The result: In two out of five cases it was clearly a dog that attacked the livestock. In the third case, the tests even revealed two dogs as the perpetrators. However, a sample in this case is not clear and is therefore analyzed again using a more complex procedure. This is to determine whether the attacker was possibly a wolf hybrid.
Such bite wounds are typical for poaching dogs
In the fourth case, the alpine farmer only reported finding his dead sheep after three days. Because the carcass had been lying there for so long, it was no longer examined. Therefore, it remains unclear how the animal died. And in the fifth case, the results of the genetic tests are not yet available. But even in this case, according to the current status, it was not a wolf that killed the sheep, but a dog.
Because as in the other cases, the injuries of the sheep are rather untypical for a wolf. The predators usually kill their victims with a targeted bite in the throat and then open their abdominal cavity. According to the LfU, the sheep carcasses on the Garmisch Almen had numerous injuries, especially on the hind legs, as if from an “unprofessional grab from behind”. But such bite wounds are typical for poaching dogs.
Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr called for an objective dialogue in view of the findings. “Public dispute does not advance the matter,” said the FW politician, who is responsible for dealing with wolves in Bavaria. “We need joint solutions. Everyone involved should sit down at one table.” At the same time, he assured that the state government was on the side of the grazers. For some time now, the Free State has been asking the federal government for the “possibility of stock regulation”. Wolves are under strict protection, shooting is only possible in absolute exceptions, especially when there is a risk to life and limb.
The alpine farmers are strictly against the predators re-establishing themselves in the Bavarian mountains. Only recently, numerous officials from the Farmers’ Union wrote to Glauber again asking for relief for shooting. They referred to Markus Söder. The prime minister and head of the CSU recently reiterated: “The wolf doesn’t belong here.”