Ostfrieslands Jägerschaften zeigen sich besorgt um den Küstenschutz in der Region, da sie durch territoriale Wölfe gefährdet wird. Besonders der Vorsitzende der Jägerschaft Aurich, Gernold Lengert, betont die hohe Zahl gerissener Schafe auf den Deichen und die Bedrohung der Deiche durch die Wolfsgefahr.
Das Wolfsproblem in Ostfriesland
“We have a wolf problem in Ostfriesland”, Gernold Lengert told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. Lengert, who is also the deputy district chairman of the Ostfriesland hunting associations, believes that the wolf observed on Norderney is responsible for sheep rips on the mainland: “That’s the same animal. At least I suspect that when I compare the sightings and tears with the distances a wolf runs in one night.”
Die Bedrohung der Deichschafe
According to Lengert, a double-digit number of wolves now threaten Ostfriesland’s dyke sheep. “I estimate that we have 16 to 18 wolves here. And why should they catch deer when sheep are standing on the dyke? Hunting wild animals is strenuous and dangerous. They run away; the sheep can’t do that. For the wolf, the dyke is like a snack bar.”
Die Wölfe und der Küstenschutz
The wolf rips endanger coastal protection, because sheep are indispensable for dyke maintenance, according to Lengert. “The dykes have to be grazed by sheep. You can mow them, but only sheep compact the dyke crumb with their small hooves in such a way that the water does not cause any damage”. The safety of well over a million people depends on the maintenance of the 610 kilometers of storm surge dykes and approximately 1,000 kilometers of tide-dependent dykes at the river mouths.
Die Problematik der Wolfszäune
The hunter emphasized that wolf fences on the dyke could neither be funded nor erected: “A dyke shepherd grazes about eight kilometers of dyke line with his approximately 700 sheep, with all the drainage ditches, farm roads etc. How is he supposed to fence that in? How is he supposed to dig the fence so deep that the wolf can’t dig under it? And how is he supposed to fence the sea side wolf-safe, with the incoming water pressing against it? In addition to this there is the wind. After the storms, even normal sheep fences lie flat. A wolf fence on the dyke is unaffordable. It is not even logistically possible to erect it.”
Killings not an option
Still, Lengert does not consider a shooting of the “island wolf” an option: “We cannot and do not want to prevent a wolf from passing along Ostfriesland’s coast from time to time. It only becomes dangerous when these wolves become territorial.” Moreover, the hunters do not see the return of the wolf only as a danger: “He is a fascinating animal and his return is an enrichment.”
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