Shepherds and campaigners clash over return of predatory lone wolf to German forest

‘I have a queasy feeling, especially when I go for a walk with my dog’

Wolf reportedly seen killing sheep and a goat near residential buildings (ALAMY)

Animal rights campaigners are facing off with shepherds over a wolf that is reportedly killing livestock in a German forest.

The “rogue wolf” reportedly attacked eight sheep and a goat in the Odenwald forest in southern Germany and is now the target of local shepherds.

Grey wolves were extinct for 150 years in the area, which covers Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.

“I have a queasy feeling, especially when I go for a walk with my dog,” a local resident told the Frankfurter Neue Presse.

It is unclear whether there is just one wolf or several, as the animals usually hunt and live in packs.

“Many pet owners fear financial losses,” said Bernd Keller, chairman of the forest’s shepherds association, which has 120 members.

He called for the animal to be killed, despite wolves being an endangered species and protected by law.

The newspaper reported that local farmer and hunter Dietrich Kübler said he and his wife saw the wolf attacking livestock.

“That a wolf dares so close to human dwellings, that speaks to its problematic behaviour,” he told the paper.

Despite their concerns, the Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology disputes the claims that there is one wolf causing damage in the forest.

The local paper reported that farmers were accused of not securing their animals properly in paddocks and their animals became easy prey for wolves.

Susanne Jokisch, a wolf commissioner and biologist from the Hessian State Office, said the calls to hunt the animal were “unjustified and inappropriate”.

Campaigners say wolves are of no danger to people, and that farmers could use electric fences or dogs to ward them off.

Authorities said they would investigate further if a wolf repeatedly approached a person within a distance of 30 metres or less.

Wolves were once extinct in Germany, but since 2000 they have been growing in numbers as they cross the Polish border.

According to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, 60 wolf packs now live in Germany, a rise of 13 packs in the last year.