Sunday 22 October 2023

Hiatus

There have been 463 posts covering foxes and their history, welfare, etc.,etc as well as wild cats. Those posts have covered topics and provided information that you will find nowhere else because it comes from original research dating back from 1976 and with wild cats 1980.

That work includes identifying which fox was wiped out in Hong Kong, looking at extinct canids.

There have been some 27061 views of this blog. People are stealing original material and using it as their own but that is to be expected with the internet. And there have been two comments. Therein lies the problem; there is no feedback on the posts or anyone saying why they are interested in the blog's subject matter. Just material theft. I had hoped that there would be more feedback.

In fact the culmination of my research on Foxes/canids and the wild cats -The Red Papers have sold no copies. Plenty sent out free of charge but no sales to help finance continued work.

For that reason I will be cutting back completely on posts. In fact I do not intend to post in the foreseeable future. I will carry on with my research and that will mainly be seen by the Extinct Fox and Wild Cat Museum. Ground-breaking research is of intertest to no one it seems and that is a sad change from the 1990s. I guess no one reads books any more.

So I am now off to do other things and not get distracted by writing blog posts of no interest to anyone.

Have You Ever Wondered What Forestry YOUR Area Lost In The Past?

The forest of Kingswood stretched from the River Severn in Bristol to Kingsweston, up to Dyrham north of Bristol, over to Pucklechurch where the Palace of King Edmund, grandson to Alfred the Great was sited, and in the south Kingswood, Bitton & Hanham – an area of approximately 18 square miles. A large part of the forest was mined for coal supplying the city and neighbourhood, the trees were cleared for agriculture, building and fuel.

Kingswood Forest, 1610

Kingswood today is part of north Bristol although part of it comes under South Gloucestershire these days under boundary changes. It is far from a forest and definitely not even a small wood.

Back in the time when there was a forest the area would have been habitat for boar, deer, foxes, badgers and many other species including at one time wolves. It is important to get a real idea of what areas looked like in the past as it shows what we lost and the habitat wildlife lost. Whether in Wales, Ireland, North, South or East England check the local history and see what you can discover and you may well get a big surprise.

Some Further Pictorial Evidence of Old West European Foxes

Considering there have been any number of wars and revolutions throughout Europe it is probably not surprising that dogma -ie. that Vulpes vulpes, the red fox, is the only fox we have ever had. The same can be said regarding wild cats but that is a subject for another time.

Here, just to try to prove the point regarding Old British and West European foxes I present some of the best contemporary evidence we have -artwork.

Below and enlargement and although the artist was not that great at drawing a badger his illustration of a fox is quite accurate and he had probably at least seen foxes. Note the lack of black and white colouring to the fur. (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

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FOX HUNTING 18th CENTURY PEEPSHOW BY MARTIN ENGELBRECHT
Augsburg, This is what we would call today a pop-up book (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

Notice the look of the fox as a uniform brown colour -common in French, German, Belgian and Dutch paintings so from the 1700s on the Old European foxes began to vanish and there are plenty of paintings of them(c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

We begin to see changes in the fox and its colouration as we get into the 1600s in some parts of Europe.

Above: Paul de Vos / 'Zorra corriendo', 17th century, Flemish School, Oil on canvas, 84 cm x

81 cm, P01865. Museum: MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID, SPAIN. Note how black and white colouration is now appearing in the fox coat.

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of intendant at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des plantes. Born: 7 September 1707, Montbard, France Died: 16 April 1788, Paris, France

(c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study Buffon is famous for his paintings of wildlife and in the above illustration we can see the brown fox colouration but with white and some features we would later see in red foxes. With his expertise as well as artistic eye we can accept this as a fox Buffon saw.

Add these to those presented previously and it does show a very rough time period for the change from Old West European fox to the gradual moving in of the red fox; it also shows that British foxes and European foxes (Old) were very similar in appearance.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2023/10/pictorial-evidence-for-existence-of-old.html

Thursday 19 October 2023

The Sad Story of The Sicilian Wolf

The Sicilian wolf (Canis lupus cristaldii) is yet another wolf species that humans have managed to kill off. It is an extinct sub-species of the gray wolf and it was reported as being endemic to Sicily. It was far paler than the mainland Italian wolf and comparable in size to the still living Arabian wolf and extinct Japanese wolf the latter was the subject of a previous post https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2023/05/hokkaido-and-enzo-wolves-reminder-that.html.

The Sicilian wolf reportedly went extinct due to human persecution in the 1920s, but, as with the Hokkaido wolf and Thylacine there have been several alleged sightings up to the 1970s. It was identified as a distinct sub-species in 2018 through morphological examinations of the few remaining mounted specimens and skulls, as well as mtDNA analyses.

As if the sight of a chained up wolf was not bad enough it has to be added that this is the only known photograph of the species.

Taxidermy is something a lot of people do not like and I have been criticised in the past for building an archive of fox specimens, however, taxidermy allows us to see what the animal in question looks like as well as size and without those specimens we might only be left with poor illustrations so as sad as it is to see stuffed specimens they are vitally important. Measurements taken from mounted museum specimens show that adults had a mean head to body length of 105.4 cm and a shoulder height of 54.6 cm which made them slightly smaller than the mainland Italian wolf, which measures 105.8-109.1 cm long and 65–66.9 cm high at the shoulder. This island wolf was a slender, short-legged sub-species with light, tawny coloured fur with the dark band present on the forelimbs of the mainland Italian wolf being absent or poorly defined.

Canis lupus cristaldii subsp. nov. Paratype n.3. Mounted specimen of an adult male, labeled 3. Museo Civico ‘Baldassarre Romano’, Termini Imerese (PA), Italy.

When it comes to how the Sicilian wolf likely entered Sicily it is thought likely that it crossed via a land bridge that formed 21,500-20,000 years ago. Just as the creation of the English/French Channel sank the old land bridge from Britain to Europe and separated the Old British foxes from the Old European ones so the wolf was separated from its mainland counter-part. In Britain the separation did not cause island dwarfism in the wolves but with the Sicilian wolf it did to an extent.

It is said that the decline in the wolf population likely began during the late Norman period, at this time its ungulate prey went extinct. This I would argue is far from believable as if the population went into decline but there had to have been sufficient prey sources for the species to survive from 1080 (Norman Conquest) into the 20th century. It seems far more likely that rather than a loss of prey it was human persecution of the wolves that saw them die out.

Canis lupus cristaldii subsp. nov. Holotype. Mounted specimen of an old adult male, labeled M1891-Coll.652-1884. Museo di Storia Naturale, Sezione di Zoologia ‘La Specola’, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.

The species went extinct during the 20th century, however, despite this being during "modern times", the exact date is unknown though it is generally thought that the last wolf was killed in 1924 near Bellolampo. But there were reports of further kills between 1935 and 1938 and all in the vicinity of Palermo. It is noted that several sightings were also reported from 1960 and 1970. We see here an exact parallel with other canid extinctions and particularly that of the Old British fox; everyone knew the number of wolves was falling and that they were becoming rare but no one sought to protect the species -they were wolves after all.

In 2018, an examination of the holotype (a mounted specimen and its skull stored at the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze) and along with three others confirmed the morphological distinctiveness of the Sicilian wolf, and an examination of the mtDNA extracted from the teeth of several skulls showed that the subspecies possessed a unique haplotype, distinct from that of the Italian wolf. Which is interesting but as the wolves had now ceased to exist it does not do the species much good but "it adds to our knowledge" and my response to that is "big deal" -scientific data is good but after the species is gone....

In 2019, an mDNA study (see reference) indicated that the Sicilian wolf and the Italian wolf were closely related and formed an "Italian clade" that was basal to all other modern wolves except for the Himalayan wolf and the now-extinct Japanese wolf. The study indicates that a genetic divergence occurred between the two lineages 13,400 years ago. This timing is compatible with the existence of the latest land bridge between Sicily and southwestern tip of Italy, which flooded at the end of the Late Pleistocene to form the Messina Strait.

Another study in 2019 also confirmed that this wolf was genetically related to Italian wolves, Late Pleistocene wolves, and one specimen possessed a "wolf-like" mtDNA haplotype not detected before

Sicillian wolf specimen kept in the Museum of Zoology "P. Doderlein", University of Palermo, Italy Lo Brutto et al. (2023)

I have mentioned human persecution of the species and according to Angelo De Gubernatis (Zoological Mythology: Or, The Legends of Animals, Volume 2, Trübner & Company, 1872, pp. 146-147) superstitions about wolves were common in nineteenth-century Sicily and it was believed by Sicilians that the head of a wolf increased the courage of those who wore it. In the province of Girgenti children were given and wore wolf skin shoes to ensure that they grew up as strong and combative adults.

To get wolf heads and wolf skins meant that wolves had to be killed so far from being down to lack of ungulate prey the demise and extinction of the Sicilian wolf was down to human persecution. A population can only survive so long and with male and females being killed for superstition or fashion then the population drops and is on the precipice of extinction. Nothing other than human persecution of wolves can be blamed for the extinction of the species because if the wolves were sighted and killed in the 1920s and 1930s it would have been known how rare they were-but they were still killed.

So many times we see canid species pushed to that precipice of extinction and then "just" about be brought back only to face the endless cycle of persecution and threat of extinction again. The United States (where one state officially released mange in the 1940s to kill off wolves, foxes and coyotes that were not being killed off fast enough) is of course the all-time champion in this and even now needs to transport wolves to repopulate areas where they were hunted to extinction and later -there is no doubt of this based on history- the wolf population will grow and "need to be harvested" (we call it killed for a profit).

And Europe is in the same situation with Norway trying to wipe out its wolves and EU politicians facing elections and being in the pockets of anti-wolf factions want to bring back wolf culling and their poster child for this is seemingly dictatorial President of the EU Ursula von der Leyens. Just how many more times do we have to see species facing extinction or becoming extinct before humans start doing something to stop it?

EXTINCTION IS FOREVER

Reale, S.; Randi, E.; Cumbo, V.; Sammarco, I.; Bonanno, F.; Spinnato, A.; Seminara, S. (2019). "Biodiversity lost: The phylogenetic relationships of a complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequenced from the extinct wolf population of Sicily". Mammalian Biology. 98: 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2019.06.002.

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Tuesday 17 October 2023

A Quick Norwegian Fox Update

Yes, after another archive trawl I have proven via contemporary accounts that Norwegian foxes were imported and in numbers.

I can even give a rough date for when this started.

I can also now prove exactly what I have said for decades; foxes were not just imported by their thousands every year during the 19th century but the reports show that importing foxes was well established in the 18th century.

There is a slightly happy, smug feeling when you can tell the modern experts that they were wrong and prove it.

Monday 16 October 2023

West European Wild Cat

Far be it from me to keep upsetting the trendy dogma pushers but if the wild tabbies they are releasing in the UK come from Western Europe...

...they are very probably hybrids and not pure wild cats.

'Sorry'

WILD CAT, BRITISH MUSEUM.

A writer in "Menageries" states: "There is no doubt that wild cats will seize on fish, and the passionate longing of the domestic cat after this food is an evidence of the natural desire. We have seen a cat overcome her natural reluctance to wet her feet, and take an eel out of a pail of water." Dr. Darwin alludes to this propensity: "Mr. Leonard, a very intelligent friend of mine, saw a cat catch a trout by darting on it in deep, clear water, at the Mill, Wexford, near Lichfield. The cat belonged to Mr. Stanley, who had often seen it catch fish."

Sunday 15 October 2023

Not All Foxes Need To Be Put Down -Some CAN Be Saved

Apart from recording fox deaths on Sunday I also spent 11 hours of messaging and sorting confusion out over one injured fox.

Luckily the Bristol Fox Lady, Sarah Mills and my colleague LM have sorted things out so rather than face a certain death with Bristol vets even though the injury is survivable, a plan has been put together.

Sorry if the image is disturbing but this is what fox rescuers encounter every week. Now the fox just has to be trapped which is the hard part!

Thriving wild Cats In The UK? Well, wild Tabbies maybe

Good to hear they are thriving BUT these are NOT Scottish wild cats as they went extinct officially in the 1860s at the latest.

These are cats taken from Europe so are NOT indigenous to the UK and any other species let loose like this would be called invasive.

The cats in the photos have none of the diagnostic features of the extinct wild cat and in point of fact look hybridised from European wild cats.

Released wildcats thriving ahead of ‘challenging’ winter

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/released-wildcats-thriving-ahead-challenging-140118105.html

Scottish wildcats released into the wild in the UK for the first time are thriving with only one death, according to conservationists.

Nineteen wildcats were released in the summer in small clusters within the Cairngorms National Park region, and they are being tracked using GPS-radio collars.

Another 13 kittens have now been bred for the Saving Wildcats project, a collaboration between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority, as well as partners in Sweden and Andalucia, Spain.

The kittens, born at RZSS’s Highland Wildlife Park, will be transferred to pre-release enclosures to prepare for their release into the wild next the summer, once they are aged six to eight months.

The critically endangered wildcats now roaming wild hunt for mice and rodents, and live in grassland and woodlands to hide from dogs and walkers, but winter is expected to be hard for them due to a lack of prey and the harsh weather.

Released wildcat — The animals are being tracked through their GPS collars (Saving Wildcats/PA(

Keri Langridge, Saving Wildcats in-situ conservation manager, said: “Most have stayed local to the release locations, while others have explored more widely across Badenoch and Strathspey.

“The cats are typically using a mixture of rough grassland, mixed woodland and riparian habitats, which provide prey such as mice and voles, as well as cover to hide from disturbance threats, including people and dogs.”

The wildcats and their den sites are protected by law and it is an offence to deliberately or recklessly disturb one, with nature-lovers who do come across them urged not to share the location.

Helen Senn, RZSS head of science and conservation programmes, said: “The first release of wildcats into Britain has been a success so far. Life in the wild is full of risks and while most of the wildcats are currently doing well, we must remember that these are now wild animals that are likely to face significant challenges as we move into winter.

“It would be highly unusual for all the released wildcats to survive the first year. The field team were alerted to a potential mortality through movement data recorded by GPS collars. They searched at the last recorded location and were able to recover the body.

“A post-mortem examination carried out by our expert veterinary team revealed the cat sadly died of peritonitis, an infection. Further releases and many more years of conservation action will be required to increase the likelihood of saving this iconic species in Scotland.”

An approach known as “soft-release” was used, which includes an acclimatisation period in the animal’s intended habitat.

Conservationists moved wildcats from the breeding for release centre into enclosures to help them acclimatise and reduce stress.

The Saving Wildcats team is working closely with landowners who now have wildcats on their land.

Ellen Quinn-Gordon, Co-Op member pioneer for Newtonmore, Kingussie and Aviemore, said: “It is so exciting that we are sharing our beautiful national park with wildcats again.

“Even though it is unlikely I will see one in the wild, knowing they are out there exploring their new home is fantastic.”

This is a war and the anti wildlife and "don't care" army are winning.

upsetting photo? Some people are seeing this 1-3 times a day and they get crap for dealing with it and no support.

Last night we lost another dead fox that I would have preferred to have submitted for a post mortem. It was the second in the street to die and we have no information about the first. Last night's fox was collapsed and foaming at the mouth. Immediately people jumped to the "it was poisoned!" conclusion. I even had a message at around midnight to tell me the fox had been poisoned.

We have had a fox collapse and foam at the mouth earlier this year and that one was submitted for post mortem. The cause of death was, basically, underlying health issues -no poison. Every year, and at least 4-5 times, I have to tell people that foxes die for many reasons and that no one can say "poisoned" until a post mortem is carried out. We have had six(it may be more) vets declare that a dead fox was poisoned -the PMs reveal not a trace of poison but underlying health conditions.

Last night's fox was not reported directly to us but via a forwarded Face Book post over 2 hours later. Secret World wildlife could not get anyone to the site (I still have no accurate location) and when someone was available they were told that the RSPCA had dealt with it. That means it was probably put to sleep in situ then bagged up and eventually sent for incineration. The RSPCA does not carry out post mortems and will likely just call this "RTA" (road traffic accident). I will be trying to find out if anything was done such as checking the fox over but a dead fox is "just a dead fox". Cooperation and information from the RSPCA over the last three years has been zero -and I usually get a run around rather than any facts.

This is in fact the third fox we have lost in as many weeks. Jaundiced, collapsed fox blah blah blah. I have gotten so used to losing foxes that fit the criteria I have. Despite asking several times and I know that there are taxidermists on the bigger 'naturalist' groups with sizeable freezers, no one has offered temporary storage for dead foxes. I even asked whether there was anyone with old fridges or freezers that still worked that they could donate. Three years later -nothing.

I have to admit the smaller Face Book wildlife groups are basically social media clubs and there has been no solid cooperation from them -even dead fox reports tend to come from pet groups. The bigger groups... well, the title "naturalist" used to mean that you had an interest in natural history and generally that you were a person who went out into the field. Butterflies, birds and pretty flowers seem the main interests and occasional "wine and walk" events. Of course, my post on one of them stating that Bristol needed a wildlife rescue was removed as being "campaigning"??

We do not have chiller/freezer facilities so come Friday -Sunday we cannot pick up any foxes to preserve for post mortems. Considering that I am the person named as being in charge I get a lot of "harsh" comments back when I explain this to people. The persistent ones I ask "Well, if you can bag and put it in your freezer until Monday?" and that stops the chat.

This morning a blind fox picked on by others, in an emaciated condition will not be fed up to see if its body mass can be increased or housed in a safe permanent enclosure as some rescues do. It will be put down. Another fox dragging its hind legs might have an injury that can be treated but take time. It will be put to sleep. Oh, and a vet calls the wildlife rescuer "a member of the public" in an insulting way and my patience with these people (vets) is stretching to the limit. The foxes become Nos 214 and 215 this year (again, reported dead foxes).

Remember also that all of the work including the driving back and forth is all "out of pocket" and not funded. If the rescuers did not answer calls no one else would and the RSPCA would be in a difficult position. Foxes, etc, would just be left to slowly die.

All the "animal lovers" that "saw a fox by the roadside but can't stop -on a school run/off to work/got an appointment" don't stop to check if the animal is alive or dead. No one wants to help or cooperate so where are all of the wildlife supporters. This is a war and the anti wildlife and "don't care" army are winning.

Saturday 14 October 2023

Why Is It Always The Negative News On Wildlife Rescues -some personal comments

The fact that wildlife rescues of varying sizes are closing down around the UK and that thousands of animals may suffer or simply face being put down for minor injuries does not interest the press and media. It just is not a "sexy" enough news story.

Now, someone running a wildlife rescue who has embezzled £190, 000 is a "very sexy" story worth posting everywhere.

With £190,000 Bristol could get the wildlife rescue it desperately needs. Any town or city could get a much needed sanctuary-cum-wildlife rescue. But yet another rescue is in the news and we know what stories like this do: it makes possible donators think that their money is going to be used for someone's personal gain and not in treating wildlife. Rather than give an over view of wildlife rescues to balance things out all they do is report on "the crook".

And what the **** was he thinking he was doing? He has now blighted any and every rescue going as people are not going to "throw money away" to embezzlers. And at a time when the fight for wildlife rescue and treatment is critical and people are already few and far between in helping rescues.

This is something we just do not need.

Wildlife sanctuary owner used £190,000 of donations to buy himself a house

The Telegraph https://uk.yahoo.com/style/wildlife-sanctuary-owner-used-190-130743229.html

Chris Tucker is a former animal rights activist who was jailed in 1992 for an attack on a McDonald’s restaurant - Simon Jones/News Group Newspapers Ltd

The owner of a wildlife sanctuary has been convicted of fraud after using tens of thousands of pounds of public donations to buy a house.

Chris Tucker, 59, a former animal rights activist who was jailed in 1992 for an attack on a McDonald’s restaurant, was convicted on Friday at Lewes Crown Court of fraudulently using £190,000 of public donations to pay for his own property. He is due to be sentenced next month.

The money was raised for Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Rescue and Sanctuary between 2017 and January 2019, which Tucker claimed would help to secure his semi-detached house – where it is based – in a trust or community interest company.

He added that the money would be safeguarded officially for good causes and not benefit him or anyone else personally.

However, in November 2019, police received an allegation that Tucker had used the public-generated funds to buy out his ex-partner and take sole ownership of the property.

Tucker, of Chantry Avenue, Bexhill, was arrested and subsequently charged with fraud by false representation.

He denied the offence, but it was proven that he acted dishonestly in order to acquire a valuable property in his sole name.

After the verdict, Detective Constable Jake O’Reilly said: “In November 2019, Sussex Police were contacted following an allegation that Tucker had made promises to sign over his property to a trust which would oversee the future running of Bexhill and Hastings Wildlife Sanctuary and Rescue if enough money could be raised by supporters.

“When this amount was achieved, it was alleged that Tucker had then acted dishonestly and taken sole control of a large property where the rescue is based.

“The result of this fraud was that Tucker had acquired a large mortgage-free house and the rescue – which is not a registered charity – was not safeguarded by an independent trust which would make collective decisions on its future.”

‘Long and complex fraud enquiry’

Police Investigator Peters, who pieced together the investigation between 2019 and 2023, added: “This was a long and complex fraud enquiry involving a vast amount of donations and donors who were not given a true account of what would happen to their money. I am pleased justice has been served.”

On Monday 9 October, at Hove Crown Court, Tucker was further convicted of one count of contempt of court in relation to messages posted on social media, which he pleaded guilty to, and his sentencing was adjourned to Friday 10 November 2023.

In 1992, Tucker was jailed for 15 months after he terrorised staff and customers by throwing what appeared to be a bomb across the counter of a crowded McDonald’s restaurant in Kensington, west London.

The court heard that Tucker, who had several previous convictions involving animal rights activities, threw the canister after asking a staff member whether they killed animals in the restaurants.

After he was convicted, Tucker was banned from entering all McDonald’s restaurants in Britain.

Last night, Tucker told the Telegraph that he was ashamed of his past, adding: “I admit what I did at McDonald’s was disgusting and inexcusable. I should never have done it.”

He said he was now making arrangements to sign over half of his house to the wildlife charity.

Friday 13 October 2023

Wolf Numbers In Germany Grow and the Hunters and Their Political Puppets Want To Kill Them

Data and information from the Bundesamt für Naturschutz BfN

Current wolf numbers: 184 packs, 47 wolf pairs and 22 sexies

Lone wolves have been detected in the 2022/2023 monitoring year. As in previous years, the Wolf Outlook focuses on the area of Saxony in the northwest direction via Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Lower Saxony.

Wolf territories were also detected in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhine-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia.

For more info : https://www.bfn.de/.../aktuelle-zahlen-und-daten-zum-wolf...

A total of 1339 wolf individuals were identified. In the year of monitoring

2021/2022 162 packs, 58 pairs and 25 single wolves have been identified -

with that the data from the wolf monitoring of the federal states showed that

there has been a slight increase in the number in the last two years of monitoring.

Territories as in the previous monitoring years.

Now electioneering and the coffers of the farmer-hunting groups give a different picture of what is going on and not just one party wants to eliminate or add wolves to the hunting list. The welcome return of the wolf is replaced by hysteria and corrupt people trying to make the most of the situation.

The Guardian

The wolf does not belong here’: German summit convened after animal attacks

This article is more than 5 months old

Farmers express concern for their livelihoods after series of deadly attacks on farm animals

German farmers, conservationists and politicians have met at a wolf summit to discuss the animal’s future amid concerns that its population is out of control.

The farmers’ union is calling for a relaxation of rules over when wolves, strictly protected under EU law, can be shot, after a series of highly publicised deadly attacks on farm animals.

It has said that people in rural areas are fearful for their lives as well as the lives of their animals, with many farmers expressing concern for their livelihoods.

Germany is home to an estimated 161 packs of wolves (of between eight to 12 animals each) according to the Federal Wolf Documentation and Advisory Office. A further 43 pairs and 21 individual animals were also registered.

Bavaria’s governor, Markus Söder attends a farmers’ meeting in Oberaudorf, Germany — Bavaria’s governor, Markus Söder, attends a farmers’ meeting in Oberaudorf, Germany, on Wednesday. Photograph: Peter Kneffel/AP

Numbers have increased year on year since the wolf was placed under species protection in 1990, after it was considered to have more or less become extinct at the end of the 19th century.

The southern state of Bavaria has already taken its own decision to allow farmers to actively kill wolves where livestock is thought to be under particular threat.

Its leader, Markus Söder, visited an alpine village on Thursday that has reportedly been the scene of attacks on grazing animals, where he said the future of farming was in danger if wolf populations were not brought under control.

“I’ll say it quite clearly, the wolf does not belong here,” Söder told a gathering of farmers and their families in Oberaudorf. “We have introduced a new wolf bylaw … one breach is sufficient and the wolf can be removed from a region.”

His Christian Social Union (CSU) has said it would like to see the elimination of all wolves from Germany. Its larger sister party, the centre-right CDU, has called for hunting rights to be expanded to include wolves.

Harald Ebner, of the Greens party, head of the federal committee for environment and nature protection, said it would be wrong for such permission to be granted. “The quick call to arms is no solution and the perpetual appeal for wolf-free zones and quotas contravenes EU law and will bring no relief to keepers of grazing animals,” he said.

The environment minister, Steffi Lemke, also of the Greens, has argued for increasing protection both for grazing animals and wolves. “We cannot in good conscience, call for the protection of animals in African countries at the same time as saying here that it is not possible to protect the wolf,” she said

The farmers’ union in Brandenburg, northern Germany, home to the largest number of wolves in the country with an estimated 47 packs and 14 pairs, is calling for a quota that could be shot legally each year, drawing on wolf population control measures in Finland and Sweden.

Brandenburg permitted wolves to be shot in specifically defined cases in 2022, after a series of livestock killings. A male wolf was killed in March after 76 livestock deaths were attributed to it.

Deutsches Welle was sounding the alarm bells in a way in 2021

Can wolves and livestock coexist in Germany?

Kay-Alexander Scholz

Germany's wolf population has risen sharply in recent years — as has the amount of farm animals killed. Wolves are a protected species, but farmers are fed up.

https://p.dw.com/p/3rZch

Wolves hav wolves have been returning to Germany for the past 30 yearsImage: Soeren Stache/dpa/picture-alliance

Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner chose a sheep farm in rural Brandenburg, a 90-minute drive from Berlin's government district, to announce the launch of Germany's new federal center for livestock and wolves.

"Just as the wolf is entitled to protection, so are our livestock," Klöckner said. "We need them to maintain and preserve our cultural landscape." The return of the wolf, she said, should not "lead to the existence of livestock being threatened in some regions of Germany."

Klöckner made an appearance at the new center for livestock and wolvesImage: Felix Zahn/photothek.ne

Wolves and bears were extinct in Germany for about 100 years, so livestock hadn't required special protection. But that all changed around the turn of the millennium.

That's when wolves were once more spotted in Germany, having migrated from Poland. Today, their populations are concentrated along the Elbe river in northern and eastern Germany.

These wolves do not just eat deer in the forest, but also sheep, goats and cattle from farms. This has been a sore point for farmers for years, especially those who keep their animals on open pastures.

The minister provided some figures: There were 40 animals injured or killed by wolves in 2006, but by 2019 the number had grown to 2,900. This mostly has to do with the increased population, Klöckner said.

"Every three to four years, the wolf population doubles," she said. She added that the wolf population could be controlled — through targeted shooting. Although the exact number of wolves in Germany is not known exactly, it's estimated there are 1,300 to 1,800 individual animals roaming free.

Seeking solutions

The sheep in the pasture Klöckner visited belong to Carina Vogel. She comes from the region and believes that it is possible to reconcile the different interests.

"As a natural conservation sheep farm, we believe that ecological, animal-friendly farm management is possible even under conditions made difficult by the presence of wolves!" she wrote on her website. Fences and dogs are key, she added.

This is the basis of a new federal initiative.

"We are creating a platform that develops practical solutions — including information on costs and funding opportunities," said Hanns-Christoph Eiden, from the federal office for agriculture and food. It will be based around "networking and dialogue, knowledge transfer and the identification of research needs."

The state of Brandenburg is currently home to the most wolves in Germany. They are monitored via a state-owned wolf management system. As of 2020, it is believed there are 47 packs plus 10 pairs in Brandenburg.

Since 2017, wolf watches have taken place in Brandenburg communities

Seeking

Brandenburg a dispute hotspot

And Brandenburg has also been at the heart of anti-wolf protests for years. Since 2017, "Nights of the Wolf Watches" have been taking place in Brandenburg communities. Farmers and hunters gather to protest the spread of the wolf, drawing attention to themselves with "warning shots." They say the government is not doing enough to protect livestock against wolf attacks.

Recently, the organizers' message has spread to other parts of Germany, in an association that calls itself the "free farmers."

"We have 480 members in Brandenburg and 1,250 members nationwide," media officer Reinhard Jung told DW. What Klöckner is doing "doesn't interest anyone in the countryside," Jung said.

"People are disappointed," Jung added. Wolves have led farmers, especially cattle farmers, to quit.

"They can't stand seeing the dead animals lying in the pasture over and over again," Jung said.

And what about protective fences? Such high-tech 1.2-meter (4-foot) constructions don't work to prevent wolves from getting in, opponents say. "It makes no sense," Jung said.

Political conflict has increased in Brandenburg's state parliament. In fall 2020, the state farmers' association had terminated its cooperation with the state government — due to differing views on wolf management. At the end of January, the Brandenburg state parliament voted to make it easier to shoot so-called problem wolves.

There is also the "Wolf Free Zone" initiative, which 52 cities and towns in Brandenburg have joined.

For many other parts of Germany, the issue is still relatively new, as the wolf is slow to migrate westward. But with the wolf population increasing, this may well be an issue that all of Germany has to face before too long.

This article has been translated from German.

Well worth visiting the DW site for videos on the subject of wolves

https://www.dw.com/en/wolves-and-livestock-can-they-live-in-harmony-in-germany/a-57097331

Another DW report (from 2020) worth reading is: Wolves Are Protected even in Towns Top EU Court Rules https://www.dw.com/en/wolves-are-protected-even-in-human-settlements-top-eu-court-rules/a-53778883

Sadly, politicians and "donators" will do their best to to bring back wolf hunting and they have powerful self indulgent politicians such as the President of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen, on their side.