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Thermal imaging cameras and firecrackers should better protect the herds. There are 5.7 million francs from the federal government for this.
As small as the container, the hopes are high, high up on the Lavaz Alp in the Lukmanier area, where 900 sheep spend the summer. With the container flown up, the shepherd saves almost an hour’s walk from the actual alpine hut. He can stay close to the herd and lead them more compactly. Especially in bad weather – especially when wolves are nearby.
Alp Lavaz is located in the middle of the area of the Stagias pack, one of six wolf packs in Graubünden. Even before the summer in the Alps, wolves killed almost 40 livestock in the canton. The tension is correspondingly high when you go to the alp with hundreds of sheep.
«Last year we had torn sheep on the first day. Every year we integrate new instruments for herd protection, so that it remains bearable for the shepherd and for me as a sheep farmer and the psychological stress is not too great,” says Flurin Steiner, leaseholder of Alp Lavaz.
Do you need high tech on the alp?
In the evenings, the sheep are put in a night pen on Alp Lavaz, guarded around the clock by four livestock guardian dogs. However, the tenant has also ordered additional material: a thermal imaging camera, with which the herd can be better kept together in fog; and firecrackers to scare the wolf away. Because last year there was a direct encounter between the shepherd and the wolf.
In May, the federal government also made available an additional CHF 5.7 million for such instruments as an immediate measure for the summer in the Alps. High-tech on the alp – is this the future? Rebekka Reichlin, the media spokeswoman for the Federal Office for the Environment, puts it: “It’s about measures that the cantons can implement quickly so that livestock protection can be extended to more Alps. This includes compact herd management, fences, shepherds and guard dogs. And then technical aids can also make a contribution. But it is clear that you can never prevent all damage. »
Regulating the wolf population through preventive shooting, as is being loudly demanded by many voices in the mountain region, is not an issue this summer. An amendment to the hunting law is currently being prepared by the federal councillors.
When the wolf climbs rock faces
The grass is green and lush – but the alp is empty and the hut deserted. No comparison to last summer, when 300 sheep spent the summer on Alp Frisal. The alp is steep and bumpy, enclosed by rugged rock faces. Some of the electric fences have to be anchored in the rocks.
Legend:
The ascent to Alp Frisal above Breil/Brigels GR is steep, even for the Alpmeister and farmer Marcel Albin.
SRF
But there are places where it is impossible to put up fences, explains Alpmeister Marcel Albin from Breil/Brigels. When the wolf managed several times last summer to even climb a rock face in order to penetrate the alp and kill sheep, they finally capitulated.