Wolves kill young bovine right at barn in Saxony, farmer keeps animals indoors

In the eastern German state of Saxony, wolves entered the outdoor run of a cattle barn belonging to the agricultural cooperative Agrargenossenschaft Laas on the night to Monday and killed a five-month-old young bovine. The incident took place in the village of Sahlassan, in the municipality of Liebschützberg near Oschatz. It worries livestock farmers because a wolf attack on cattle directly at a barn had not been known in Saxony until now.

What happened

The animals got over a wire-mesh fence surrounding the entire facility. The affected barn section held 31 young cattle, and the cooperative keeps 140 young animals there in total. The slaughtered animal weighed between 120 and 140 kilograms, yet little more than its head remained. According to board member Markus Fröhlich, even the damage assessor from the state wolf agency was shocked.

Fröhlich believes several wolves took part, since a single wolf can eat up to ten kilograms of meat at once, according to the assessor. Experts from the Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG) found at least two sets of canine tracks at the scene, but the authority says the exact number of wolves cannot be determined. Only for the third time in Saxony has a bovine of comparable size been killed by wolves.

Fence and wolf presence

The young-cattle facility is enclosed by a 1.50-metre fence that is not electrified and has no protection against climbing over or digging under. In the LfULG's assessment, it posed no serious obstacle to wolves. Wolves appear in the area regularly; staff watch them during fieldwork, and some even run alongside tractors. The wolf agency does not consider such sightings unusual, and says the number of reported wolf kills in northern Saxony is not above the Saxon average. In August and September, two kills each were registered, involving sheep near Torgau.

Fröhlich doubts that official figures capture every incident, as some animal keepers skip reporting because of bureaucratic effort.

Measures

The cooperative can probably expect compensation, as cattle are not subject to special herd protection requirements. Fröhlich says the real problem is the daily fear of finding dead animals. From now on the young cattle will stay in the barn at night, and a hunter has installed wildlife cameras around the facility to show whether the wolves return. Whether this will prevent further attacks remains unclear.