Wolves wreak havoc in Germany
May 13, 2002
BY TONY PATERSON
BERLIN–Grey wolves, heralded by conservationists when they reappeared in
Germany for the first time in 155 years a few months ago, are wreaking
havoc among sheep in Saxony, where they are legally protected from being
shot.
A pack of wolves has killed 27 sheep in the region in the past two weeks,
forcing shepherds to rely on army parachute flare pistols, electric fences
and 24-hour vigils to protect their herds.
“We dare not leave our sheep alone at night,” said Frank Neumann, a
shepherd from the village of Rohne in Saxony whose herd was destroyed by
wolves 10 days ago in a series of night attacks.
The attacks have occurred six months after a pack of grey wolves, found
living on a deserted, 34,000-acre former Soviet army exercise area close
to the Polish border, gave birth to three wolf cubs. The pack was thought
to have crossed into Germany from neighboring Poland.
The births were celebrated as conclusive proof that the wolf had returned
to Germany 155 years after the last one was shot, in Bavaria. Superstition
and hatred had led to its eradication from the countryside.
The attacks have shocked Saxony’s agriculture and environment ministry.
Advisers had assumed that the wolves would not kill farm animals because
of the region’s abundance of wild boar and deer, which are the wolf’s
natural prey. “The wolves that have begun attacking sheep are somewhat
abnormal,” said Dr Michael Gruschwitz, Saxony’s resident wolf expert.
“They have learned very quickly that sheep are easy targets. We are now
doing our utmost to deter them.”
Gruschwitz said the attacks appeared to have been carried out by a group
of young wolves that had separated from the main pack. “The original pack
has not touched the sheep and continues to prey only on deer, moufflon
[small wild sheep] and wild boar,” he said.
Last week Saxony announced a series of measures to deal with the threat.
The region’s sheep farmers are to be supplied with 3,000-volt electrified
steel barriers to erect around the threatened herds and to be provided
with strips of cloth to tie to fences in a deterrent that dates back to
the Middle Ages. Saxony also has pledged to employ professional hunters to
deter the wolves with rubber bullets if these measures fail.
Sunday Telegraph