Roughly translated by TWIN Observer
News P4 West
Monetary assistance for the fence that can keep out the wolf was increased significantly at the beginning of the year, but applications have not increased.
We have not seen that applications have increased, says Lisa Karnfält in charge of the assistance payments of the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland.
And it has not been the case elsewhere in the country either, but there is an explanation for it says Inga Ängsteg at the Wild Claims Center.
Most pet owners who live where the wolf is already set up predator repellent fence or is otherwise ensured that wolves can not access domestic animals.
While the trend is that more and more, mainly sheep, are killed by wolves, which could indicate that the special fences do not work well enough.
But where are the statistics are somewhat misleading, says Inga Ängsteg, because there are wolves that try to establish themselves in new places where they destroy the most sheep.
I am talking about areas where there is much more frequent among sheep livestock and where the fence is less common for there not been any attacks in the past and a few wolves can quickly kill many sheep.
In the government report on the objectives of wolf distribution in Sweden suggests investigator Lars-Erik Liljelund that the wolf population will double to about 450 individuals.
With today’s rejuvenation program it is possible to reach that size in a few years, says no Ängsteg, and then both damages and contribution to the fence to increase substantially as the wolf will become increasingly common in more cattle population areas.
In Västra Götaland was only 5, which were destroyed last year, also was the 12 hens so the wolf took a total of 17 livestock.
Also a dog became a victim of wolf.
A total of 685 000 kr was awarded as compensation for destroyed sheep but this was not caused by wolves, but lynx that caused the most damage.
Lynx are not kept out by special fencing destroyed 14 sheep in 2011.
Jörgen Winkler