Escape from the wolf – wolf free to shoot – nevertheless 1300 sheep go into the valley – News

  • 1300 sheep were pulled early from the Börteralp near Klosters. The fear of new wolf attacks is too great.
  • A wolf was released for shooting in Klosers on Tuesday. He is said to have killed 20 sheep on the Börteralp in one week.

The Graubünden cantonal government has released a wolf in Klosters for shooting. In the current Alpine summer, 60 sheep fell victim to wolf attacks on three Alps in Klosters, she explains. The shooting permit is valid for 60 days from September 1st. Without shooting, the damage potential cannot be controlled, reports the Graubünden Office for Hunting and Fishing.

There were 15 attacks on farm animals on the three Alps. The predators killed more than 10 sheep on protected pastures, meeting the legal quota for one kill.

Premature departure from the Alps

The farmers have already had to remove the animals from the Börteralp in the Prättigau. This marks the premature end of the alpine season for 1,300 sheep, two shepherds and four shepherd dogs. The sheep were driven into the valley, loaded and are currently returning to their owner in the canton of Lucerne. “The shepherds are mentally and physically exhausted,” says Andreas Ruosch, deputy mayor of Klosters-Serneus.

Since June, 60 sheep have been killed in Schlappin on three Alps. There were 20 cracks on the Börteralp last week alone. The Office for Hunting and Fishing of the Canton of Graubünden confirms the cracks at the request of the regional journal Graubünden from SRF.

Livestock guard dogs and shepherds are exhausted.

The municipality of Klosters-Serneus writes in a statement that livestock protection dogs and shepherds are exhausted. And the sheep are terrified. “Despite the exemplary protective measures taken by those responsible, the shepherds are mentally and physically exhausted and some of them had to go home,” the community continues.

Large herds hardly controllable


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Sheep that lose their flock are fodder for the wolf. In fog it is difficult to keep herds of more than a thousand animals together.

The sheep in the Schlappin were protected by herd guard dogs.

Lost sheep are not considered protected by the federal government and do not count towards the number of kills.

For the municipality of Klosters-Serneus, the premature unloading in the Alps is difficult. “We are investing millions in alpine renovations and the development of the Alps,” says Andreas Ruosch, Deputy Mayor of Klosters-Serneus. And he adds: “We fully support the alpine farms and the alpine staff”. Intact, cultivated and grazed Alps are important as a tourism region.

Due to the incidents in the past year, two Alps did not go up the mountain at all.

It’s not the first Alp to react to wolf tears like this. “I know for sure of two other Graubünden Alps that brought their sheep back down to the valley prematurely and of two Alps that, due to the events of the past year, no longer drove up the alps at all,” says Peter Küchler, Director of the Plantahof Agricultural Center in Landquart.

Problems also in Valais


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In Valais, too, dairymen have packed their things together and headed down to the valley early. “The situation is very similar in the two cantons,” says Moritz Schwery from the agricultural center in Visp. Both cantons have similar dense forests. Graubünden tends to have the larger Alps.

In the last ten years, around 30 sheep alps have been abandoned in the canton of Valais. “In 12 cases, the presence of large carnivores was the reason for the abandonment or at least played a decisive role,” says Schwery. In the remaining cases, the reason for the abandonment was not known. Of course, the wolf could also have played an important role here.

The descent from the Börteralp was originally planned for September 17th. According to Peter Küchler from the agricultural center of the canton of Graubünden, the animals stay on many of the Graubünden Alps until October.

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