Wolf suspected

14 sheep killed on pasture in the middle of buildings

A wolf is said to have attacked 15 sheep in the municipality of Ybbsitz. The organic farmer was able to save one of them.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

"You raise the animals, do everything you can to make sure they are well and then this," says the young organic farmer Alfred Oismüller (30) in shock. On a pasture in the municipality of Ybbsitz, district of Amstetten, the drama - protected by a thick blanket of fog - probably took place just 70 meters from the nearest house.

Alfred Oismüller runs the organic farm of the same name in the municipality of Ybbsitz with his wife Maria and his parents. The main focus is on sheep's milk and cheese production, which the family also markets themselves. The farmer let 43 of his almost 300 animals run on his cousin's leased meadow in the municipality. The pasture borders a triangle where there is a housing estate at one end, several houses at the other and a farm at the third.

Emotional damage runs deep
There - the 30-year-old assumes it was Saturday morning - a wolf is said to have jumped over the pasture fence and attacked 15 animals that Oismüller is currently rearing as offspring. And only 70 meters from the nearest house. He was only able to save one sheep, 14 are dead.

"It's not the financial loss. That's covered. But it's the emotional damage. Because you raised the animals and did everything you could to make sure they were well. And now you have to watch this agonizing end," the father of two still expresses his shock to the "Krone" newspaper.

About organic and wolf protection fences
According to Oismüller, because he only has a normal pasture fence, the wolf - traces of which point almost unambiguously to the predator - cannot be shot. "Because I don't have a wolf protection fence," he says.

However, it would be technically impossible for his organic farm to install such a fence on all of the large pasture areas: "We simply can't manage it." And in some cases, it is also not feasible to erect a sensible fence due to the landscape conditions.

Third incident in the region this year
It is not the only incident in the region this year. There have already been wolf kills in Ybbsitz and Gresten-Land. "If the wolf can't be shot here, I won't be able to let the animals graze there next year," the 30-year-old worries about the future. His cousin, who has a fallow deer enclosure nearby, is now also very worried about a possible wolf attack.

Criticism of Lower Austria's handling of wolves
"It brings back memories", says Wolfstop chairman Gerhard Fallent, who clearly wants to conclude that one or more wolves did the work based on the pattern of cracks. "In the night from February 15 to 16, 2023, three wolves also attacked 16 sheep right next to my house. Eight were killed, the other eight were injured, some of them seriously. It all comes flooding back, the trauma, the endless animal suffering and the images of the battlefield," says Fallent. 

He is calling for the wolf ordinance in Lower Austria to be tightened up because the current one is toothless. "Wolfstop has been calling for a massive tightening since spring because the current one is completely ineffective." A proposal was drawn up and presented to the public in July. Fallent is certain that it is concrete, fact-based, feasible and effective. Although it would have been well received, nothing has happened to date. 

State counters criticism
The province of Lower Austria does not accept this criticism: "Conspicuous wolves can already be scared off and shot without prior notification or approval. To make this even easier in future, the EU has also announced, at our instigation, that it will finally lower the protection status. This should make it easier to regulate the wolf population in future." In addition, every possible leeway will be exploited and farmers will not be left in the lurch. The bites will be compensated.