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According to the announcement published in the Chamber of Agriculture, the organizers invited all Lithuanian farmers on September 17. 7:30 pm. join forces with colleagues from across Europe to draw attention to the damage caused by wolves and ignite a pinch of solidarity.
The problem for the sector is the damage caused by wolves
The sheep sector is the one that suffers the most from wolves. And although we hear and talk a lot about it, the situation does not change.
The wolf population is larger than expected. This was confirmed by the Hunting Research Laboratory investigation. The wolf obsessively flies towards pets, unafraid of humans. It is angry and strange that when a hunt is announced, a wolf is usually shot in the forest; one that is not possibly troublesome could live in the forest.
No net will protect you from the wolf, it’s just a waste of money. Dogs are not the way out and they are expensive, their maintenance (feeding, training) costs a lot, in addition, they are aggressive, suitable for steppes, large areas, and in Lithuania they can pose an additional danger.
According to the director of the Lithuanian Sheep Breeders Association (LAAA) Gintarė Kisielienė, it would be very important to promptly issue special permits to remove troublesome wolves from the wild. “Because the wolf returns to the pack the next day and it would be possible to hunt it, and the issuance of special permits takes 3-4 weeks, so the wolf is actually already elsewhere”, G. Kisielienė has no doubts .
Due to wolves, breeders suffer great moral damage, they stick to an animal that they breed from an early age. For sheep, there is a lot of stress when it comes to discards. If it does not happen immediately, the farmer does not receive compensation for the damage caused by the wolves.
It happens that a breeding animal is torn, which was not entered into the herd book in time, then it is no longer possible to issue a pedigree certificate.
When the herd is large, the breeder sometimes notices the injured sheep too late and fails to heal it. This is a very painful subject. It is difficult to understand why the state, by supporting animal husbandry and husbandry, allows them to be destroyed …
Proposes to take decisive action
The message from those working in the livestock sector is that livestock in Lithuania has great potential, but the damage caused by predators threatens not only livestock, but also biodiversity.
October 15 The wolf hunting season will begin, so a slight thinning of the wolf band is expected, albeit temporarily. But this is not the way out. Clearly, decisive action is needed.
The Lithuanian Sheep Breeders Association has already submitted its proposals to the Seimas Rural Affairs Commission. First, a request was made to increase the wolf hunting limit from 120 to 150. Subsequently, proposals were also presented to the Ministry of the Environment when the issue of allocating funds for the purchase of enclosures was discussed.
The LAAA offers an early start to the wolf hunting season beginning October 1, and maybe even earlier. We are seeing changes due to global warming, so agriculture and wildlife are also adapting to it – grazing is getting longer and longer.
The Ministry of the Environment explains that there is the possibility of obtaining permits to hunt wolves during the hunting season, when wolves cause damage to farmers. In theory this is possible, but in practice it is difficult to use as it takes a long time to obtain such permits to hunt wolves outside of hunting season due to bureaucracy. After all, you need to contact the municipality first, then submit a request to the Environmental Protection Agency. If you get such a permit, you will need to check with the hunter’s club. Therefore, in the meantime, this process can take up to a month, because in such cases it is necessary to act very quickly. Furthermore, the wolves thus hunted are included in the limit for the next season.
After a successful attack, the wolves return to the same place again.
Experience shows that if young wolves taste sheep, that sense of the taste of meat seems to capture them and they will seek out sheep first throughout their lives and will only choose other victims if they fail.
Another nuance. According to hunters, wolves often return to the scene of an attack. They don’t eat everything. So you can come back in a day or a few days. That is why there are proposals to leave out part of their slaughtered cattle and organize an ambush. However, obtaining permits takes a long time, so the ambush is not yet unfolding.
State compensation for farmers affected by wolf attacks does not cover damage suffered
Compensation is awarded, but it does not actually cover all losses incurred. After all, a farmer who raises breeding sheep signs contracts with buyers, and here, after the wolf’s attack, he cannot fulfill the contracts. You lose not only the sheep, but also the trust of the buyers. So successful farming when planning is impossible becomes very difficult. On the other hand, is the state rich enough to compensate for the attacks of the wolves? So, at the expense of all of us, the state is dedicated to herding wolves.
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