No one saw that coming.
The first snow of winter has fallen in Sanmartin, a village in Romania’s eastern Carpathian mountains.
Shepherd József Rácz and his sons keep 500 ewes up on the high pasture here. It’s a hard life: when he’s not worrying about milking his sheep, which he does three times a day, he’s worrying about protecting them from predators.
Each year, József loses five or six of his herd to a wolf, or a bear. It’s why he keeps 17 dogs.
“A good dog is the best tool a shepherd has, to protect his flock at night, and in the daytime too,” the farmer says.
On Tuesday, 45 years of strict protection for grey wolves in Europe came to an end, after conservation officials adopted EU measures to downgrade the animal’s protected status.
Without any form of predation against them, wolves will multiply. They are an apex predator, so this was entirely predictable.
There are wolves in my neck of the woods also. They have been living the dream with no regard for dairy and sheep farmers who regularly lose livestock. Be interesting to see how the downgraded status is applied.
Are there not some fools who wish to bring wolves back into into Scotland ?
Having experienced the Princes Street crowds at the Christmas Market last night, it seems a better idea than ever…
Possibly worth noting that the downgrade in the wolf’s status happened very shortly after Ursula von der Leyen’s favourite horse was killed by wolves…
DK
I’ve heard of one that prowls Utrecht and has no fear of humans. Apparently, it attacked a young girl a few months ago, but due to the EU’s insane rules, the wolf couldn’t be killed because it was protected. I think the plan was to move it elsewhere. Pointless in my opinion, since the wolf will either make its way back, or become a problem in its new location. If those rules are changing to downgrade the protection level, then that can only be a good a thing. This particular wolf needs to be taken out before it actually kills someone, which it will eventually. I’ve seen wolves and bear in the wild over in the US and Canada. I wouldn’t want to get particularly close to either species, but wolves especially. They are highly intelligent and very stealthy when they need to be. They deserve to be classed as apex predators.
And to think, their are clowns in this country who are campaigning to have wolves released up in the Scottish highlands to help control the deer population. What good would that do? And what guarantee is there that some of them won’t eventually slip south of the border and start colonies in England and Wales? And the clowns are campaigning for them on the basis that they used to run free in ancient Britain. Well so did bears, but I live in a semi rural area, and I really don’t want to open my door anytime and come face with a wolf or, worse still, a brown bear. Those bastards are massive. Dealing with foxes and badgers is bad enough. I have no problem with a small number of beaver being released. They can be a nuisance, but for the most part, they’re only dangerous if provoked.