The dogs protecting sheep against wolves
It is a rainy morning on the Elspeter Heide, where shepherds Daphne van Zomeren and Marc Baars walk their flock. Two energetic border collies run in circles around the sheep, while two other, much larger, dogs keep watch. They have a special task: protecting the herd from wolves.
And they do their job well. As soon as someone comes close to any one of the 250 sheep, they burst out in a cacophony of loud barking. Van Zomeren has seen the them chase away wolves during the day more than once. “Without the dogs, the herd is a walking buffet for wolves.”
In 2015, the first wolves returned to the Netherlands. Since then, their numbers have steadily grown (currently counting 51) and with that, deadly attacks on livestock.
A wolf’s favorite snack/victim? Sheep. They have killed more than 4000 of them so far. Some Dutch shepherds are turning to specially trained livestock guarding dogs (LGD) to protect their flock. Combined with electric fences, nothing is as effective of a wolf deterrent as the dogs are.
