Sheep owner Einar de Wit lost over 20 sheep in a wolf attack. Despite that, no protective hunt was announced. Now there are demands that the authorities take measures more quickly.
– It feels incredibly difficult and almost absurd. That people don’t understand what it looks like in my reality, says Einar de Wit.
Despite the fact that Einar de Wit lost more than 20 sheep, no protection hunt was announced. Only after there were several attacks in the area did the County Administrative Board change its decision and announce a protective hunt for the guilty wolf.
Now the Farmers’ Confederation, LRF, has chosen to pursue the matter further. They believe that different county administrations apply the hunting ordinance differently and want it to be easier to announce protective hunting.
– A practice has developed in the authorities and the courts that you have to wait until there are four attacks by an identified individual. There is no support for that in the hunting ordinance, says Palle Borgström, confederation chairman of LRF. He continues:
– The hunting ordinance states that the county administrative board must assess the risk of serious injury, and we think it is obvious. That risk has been there since the first attack in this area.
There is no joint after an attack
But the county administrative board believes that there is no reason to regard a wolf as a problem wolf already after an attack.
– It has not been seen as such. After all, a wolf takes its prey and an attack means that it may not continue with it. But if you see repeated behavior, you can possibly see it that way, says Joakim Carlsson, wildlife officer at the Västra Götaland County Administrative Board.
So far, around 130 sheep have been killed in around ten wolf attacks in Västra Götaland this year. Einar de Wit believes that faster decisions on protective hunting are a first step, but in the long term he does not believe that the wolf has a place in western Götaland’s livestock-dense region.
– My starting point is that there is no possibility of having a wolf in an area where there are domesticated animals, says Einar de Wit.