Press background discussion well attended

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More than 50 journalists came together on March 22, 2023 for LIFEstockProtect’s online press backgrounder “Wolves in the Cultural Landscape”. After several exciting presentations, there was time for questions and discussions.

Danger to humans?

Felix Knauer from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna began with a presentation on the danger posed to humans by wolves. Although the wolf is physically quite capable of becoming dangerous to us, attacks by wolves have been very rare in Europe over the last 100 years. There may be many reasons for this, but at least they no longer exist in our modern societies. When living together with wolves, it is fundamentally important never to feed wolves and to accustom them to humans. Intensive monitoring and a situation analysis are necessary if interactions between wolves and free-standing humans are reported below 30 meters. In the event of repeated encounters at close range, the animal should be tagged and deterred. If deterrence measures are unsuccessful or not possible, the wolf must be removed. If this is implemented consistently and without delay, no attacks are to be expected in Europe under the current circumstances.

Experiences from herd protection practice

The other major challenge of living with wolves was addressed in the second part of the discussion. Three speakers from the agricultural sector gave the journalists an insight into their day-to-day work with sheep, fences and Livestock guarding dogs – and everything that goes with it. The lives of a shepherdess, a sheep farmer and a shepherdess were vividly illuminated, from the challenges of herding in alpine pasture areas heavily used by tourists, to management requirements and the general appreciation of the work and lack of support for herd protection measures. The media representatives then had the opportunity to question the individual speakers directly in breakout rooms.

As part of the background discussion, technical documents were prepared for journalists to read, which can be accessed in the Press section.