Abtrieb already in May – Instead of alpine summer, sheep are waiting for a trip to the butcher

In the Schwarzwassertal in the Ausserfern region of Tyrol, the alpine season is over before it has really started! Hundreds of sheep were driven away again because of wolves and bears. Many now face slaughter. The farmers don’t know of any other solution, because in summer it’s just too hot for the animals in the valley.

Around 300 sheep were brought from the Tyrolean Unterland to the Schwarzwassertal just two weeks ago. “Because for us it was one of the few alpine pastures in Tyrol that was still free of wolves until now. With us it is no longer feasible to drive to an alpine pasture. The wolf is on the move all over the place, and now the bear too. Now it’s hit us here too,” said Reinhard Astner from Itter, who was shocked. It was he who organized the raising of the sheep from the Unterland to the Schwarzwassertal.Many sheep before slaughter A few days ago the sheep were brought back to the Unterland. Astner is taken aback. Also because a large proportion of the animals are now being slaughtered. “It’s not funny that we have to act like this. Each of our animals has a name that the children often gave them.” He sees no alternatives. “In Brixental we haven’t had a mountain pasture without a wolf or a bear for a long time,” says Astner. Keeping them in a barn or on a field pasture over the summer is not an alternative. “It’s much too warm in the valley, there is a risk of parasite infestation in the barn – that would border on animal cruelty,” he emphasizes. “Now bring the animals to the butcher – we really don’t like doing that.” Then you could raise it again. But additional time would probably pass before the wolf was caught. “Now the tourism industry has to cry out. It’s no use if everyone shuts up because they’re afraid that their chairs will be sawn!” “Now we have to act quickly” Crown”. And further: “The fact that there have already been cracks in many districts confirms the explosiveness of the situation. Now you have to act quickly, with the sampling, with the evaluation and with the shooting.” It was only in the middle of this week that the Tyrolean state government issued a shooting ordinance for a wolf in East Tyrol. Another one followed on Friday – for a wolf in Ötztal, where several dead sheep had also recently been found. Killing now permitted by ordinance In April, the Tyrolean state parliament passed an amendment to the law that now allows killing by ordinance and no longer by notice. Previous decisions had been overturned by the court several times after environmental protection organizations had successfully appealed them.
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