The wildlife specialist are happy the wolf returned in the Netherlands for a natural balance of wildlife. The wolf causes problems too and many people don’t like it that the wolves live here. Our country is so densely populated and many people like to recreate in the forests. Some wolfs are very daring and even come in peoples back garden.
Recently a mean wolf attacked/has bitten children (not kill) out of the blue and a large forest has warning signs not to enter. In general wolfs are protected, but for this mean wolf there is allowance to kill. The increase of the number of wolves seems to get more and more problematic. But biting incidents with dogs still outnumber the incidents with wolves.
I think there are also more sheep getting killed by dogs than by wolves in the Netherlands (not sure , I have t seen recent statistics).
People tend to blame the wolf after a kill. Investigation (to get paid) often shows it wasn’t a wolf but a dog who killed the sheep. And there us another strange thing going on. Many sheep farmers dont want to make better fences. The cost are low bc the government helps to pay for the materials. But some farmers dont bc if a wolf attacks their sheep, they get paid for the damage.
There is a Greek organisation called arcturos, whose mission is to protect the wildlife here, with an emphasis on out biggest carnivores (bear, wolf, and lynx). All of those were extremely endangered within their regions, even extinct in some. A lot of the kills were done by farmers who had an issue with their livestock getting predated.
Once, the farmers in those (mostly mountainous) regions used a local breed of LGDs, but moved on to modern methods of poisoning, trapping, and killing. Arcturos, in an attempt to stop the eradication of the wolves and bears, but also the extinction of this local breed of dog, starting a breeding programme for them. For over three decades, the organisation has been working with the farmers, giving them Greek Shepherd puppies to raise up and protect their flocks, while also teaching them better ways to keep the predators at bay, without having to result to killing.
While the organisation does a lot more to help the wildlife, I fin this particular way very smart, and beneficial for all. The farmers are relatively happy, an almost extinct breed of dog is used to do what comes naturally to it, and the numbers of wolves and bears in Greece is rising, since there aren’t nearly as many people trapping them and shooting them
