Chris Smit on wolves
A problem we created
Door UKrant.nl
By UKrant.nl
UKrant.nl
Not even Chris Smit thought it would go this fast.
It’s only been five years since the first pack of wolves settled down on the Veluwe. The period before that, during which wandering lonely male wolves occasionally came into the country before quickly leaving again, hadn’t even lasted that long. Smit was therefore ‘ecstatic’ when that first female wolf in 2019 appeared to be staying.
But he also wanted to warn people. ‘There’s no reason wolves and people can’t coexist’, the UG ecologist said in an UKrant interview back in 2019. ‘Even in the Netherlands. But it would be naive to think we don’t need to take measures.’ One suggestion was to take another look at our wildlife management practices and ensure there were enough prey animals. Another was to compensate farmers for anything that happened to their cattle.
But five years later, the country’s excited mood has turned sour. The wolves have killed nearly 4,500 sheep, goats, and other livestock, and the government has had to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in damages. One cattle farmer in Drenthe was bitten when he tried to chase a wolf off his property and a small child was even attacked in Leusden. Increasingly, people are calling for the government to withdraw the protected status of the animals.
Implemented poorly
Smit studied the effects of wolves for years; he initially started in Poland, but has been doing his research in the Netherlands since 2019. He was also part of the Council on Animal Affairs, which made recommendations to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature on how to coexist with wolves.
The cattle farmers didn’t really want to put up fences
‘The number of wolves went up much faster than I’d imagined five years ago’, says Smit. ‘But with that, so have people’s concerns, and that’s because we didn’t take the right measures.’
There were plans in place and recommendations about putting fences to protect the livestock. But those recommendations either weren’t obeyed or implemented poorly. ‘The cattle farmers didn’t really want to do it, even though there were subsidies available. We should have taken better measures’, he says.
Long process
That’s partly because the policy on wolves is incredibly complicated for cattle farmers. If they think one of their animals has been killed by a wolf, the farmers have to go through a long and formal process. Only when a DNA test conclusively shows a wolf did the killing do farmers receive compensation.
Smit feels the process should be simplified. ‘Perhaps it would be better to reverse the process; compensate the farmers first and then do the investigation. That would lead to less bad blood between the farmers and the government,’ Smit thinks.
The government should also provide more support in putting up anti-wolf fences, like in Germany. Germany has special companies that put up fences that meet criteria, but in the Netherlands, people don’t care about those. ‘As always, people think they can handle it themselves’, he says.
This led to some serious consequences. Only five percent of the anti-wolf fences currently in place meet the requirements. ‘These fences also all need maintenance. That also stops farmers from putting in the right type.’
National level
It isn’t enough, says Smit. He also argues in favour of withdrawing compensation for farmers who refuse to take the correct measures. ‘And if that happens more often, perhaps a system of fines should be put in place. Because these farmers are creating a nuisance wolf, which affects their neighbours as well.’
The fact that everything happens on a provincial level is counter-productive as well, he says. ‘The different provinces have different rules and regulations. Obviously, everything should be arranged on a national level.’
Then, there are the wolves who no longer appear to be afraid of people. Smit thinks these wolves have previously been fed by people, leading them to associate human beings with food. ‘We absolutely have to find a way to prevent that.’
If you get close to them when they have pups, they’ll kick your ass
But the incident with the child in Leusden, and an earlier one in which a dog was taken by a wolf, means emotions are running high. According to Smit, it’s impossible to say with certainty what causes this kind of behaviour, but there are some possible reasons. The incident with the child happened during wolf breeding season, which means it’s possible the attack was in fact done in defence. ‘If you get close to them when they have pups, they’ll kick your ass.’
But Smit says he can’t rule out that the wolf was trying to see if the child was a potential prey. ‘If we don’t do anything to deter wolves from that kind of behaviour, we’re creating a dangerous situation.’
He thinks cases like this warrant shooting at the animals with a paintball gun. ‘Otherwise, you lose all support from the general population. And that’s the strategy the government should be utilising here.’
Advantages
Fortunately, some good things are happening, too. The shooting of deer, the wolves’ most popular prey, has diminished, and the animals have been given more freedom to roam. That means it’s less likely for the wolves to target livestock.
But, he says, there should be a much bigger focus on all the advantages the wolves’ presence has on Dutch nature. ‘Not only do they affect the number of large grazing animals, they also change their behaviour.’
Deer, for instance, will start to avoid places where they’re likely to encounter wolves, leading to a change in dynamics. Some plants have more room to grow in these locations because they’re no longer being eaten. This in turn creates new habitats for diverse species.
You have to use animals that can survive in an area with wolves
These effects were already well-known in Poland, but apart from the UG, very few researchers in the Netherlands are studying them. ‘One of our PhD candidates, Bjorn Mols, showed that these effects are already taking place in the Netherlands, albeit to a lesser degree.’
Smit has also concluded that the wolves are affecting the natural landscape in the Netherlands. Undomesticated cattle, for example, have been shown to quickly adapt their defensive behaviour by forming groups, even if they’ve never encountered wolves before. ‘This is important for the Netherlands, as well as for other countries. If we’re using cattle to graze nature reserves, we should be using the kind that can survive in an area that has wolves.’
More packs
Researchers at the Wageningen University & Research expect the number of packs in the Netherlands to grow to six times the number it is now. It’s even possible that wolves might come to Groningen. ‘Especially around Sellingen near the German border, where there are hills and not as much agriculture’, says Smit.
That also means the controversy concerning wolves is here to stay. ‘It’s still alive in France and Germany. There will always be something that causes a debate.’
But Smit is mainly worried about the politics surrounding the issue. The shift to the political right in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe could spell bad news for the wolves and their status as a protected species. On the other hand, he says: ‘They probably won’t lose their protected status, and it’s still illegal to just shoot them.’aar op de dieren geschoten worden.’