DodoFinance Breaking News Made For You!
The Brabant-Limburg wolf which has its habitat on the Groote Heide is able to jump over fences with electric wires. Environmentalists wonder how the animal does this.
In collaboration with the provinces of Limburg and North Brabant, cameras are now placed near the flocks of sheep to record the acrobatic skills of the animal. A trial is also underway with herding guard dogs. This is what emerges from information from the BIJ12 office, which records damage to wildlife for all Dutch provinces, including damage caused by wolves.
Little damage from the wolf
BIJ12 data also shows that only 0.2% of the total amount paid in 2020 for wildlife damage was caused by wolf attacks on farm animals. By far most of the damage, over 90 percent, is from grazing geese. Wolves are also not among the top ten causes of damage. This list includes all kinds of geese, badger, wild boar, tower and tit, according to BIJ12.
Seventeen attacks
Farmers receive compensation if they are damaged by animals. Between February and May of this year, BIJ12 received 17 reports of attacks on farm animals. In nine cases, a wolf was found responsible. In the other cases, foxes and dogs struck and two reports failed to identify the animal, but it was not a wolf. A wolf attacked in North Brabant, Limburg, Gelderland, Drenthe and Overijssel.
Tracks
BIJ12 received 670 reports of wolf tracks between February and May of this year. In 249 cases, evidence such as traces of DNA or feces showed that it was indeed a wolf. At the end of April, a wolf appeared for the first time in Zeeland. This animal entered the province via Belgium and West Brabant. After that, the animal returned to Flanders.
Habitats
In Drenthe, an animal new to the Netherlands has appeared in the vicinity of Wijster. This is a wolf from the Barnstorff pack in Lower Saxony, Germany. There are still wolves on the North Veluwe, the Southwest Veluwe and therefore on the Groote Heide – or Leenderheide – around the provincial border between Limburg and North Brabant.
The Netherlands will exchange data with Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg to keep an eye on wolf movements as up to date as possible.
“Introvert. Avid gamer. Wannabe beer advocate. Subtly charming zombie junkie. Social media trailblazer. Web scholar.”
