The video shows five wolf puppies in the upper Drautal (Spittal an der Drau district), according to ORF Carinthia it was recorded two weeks ago by a vacationer. The country’s wildlife expert, Roman Kirnbauer, confirmed to APA’s request that the recording should be authentic. DNA traces on a torn animal have already shown that two resident wolves have fathered offspring.
The five puppies were probably born in May, but since August they should have been big enough to “run along” with their parents, says Kirnbauer, which agrees with the photo. The video comes from an area near the Hochstadel on the border with East Tyrol. Hunters recognized the location. Kirnbauer is amazed at the rapid formation of a pack: “It was a matter of time, but it’s surprising that it happened so quickly.” After all, only one wolf was detected in Carinthia in 2020, in 2021 there were already eleven. From three animals one speaks of a pack. Such a one usually has a territory of 200 to 250 square kilometers.
In the pasture area, livestock were killed over the summer, sheep and young cattle were attacked. The alpine farmers fear for their animals and now want to bring them down to the valley early, said the chairman of the agricultural community, Johann Krieghofer, in several media reports. In view of the wolf pack, the President of the Carinthian Chamber of Agriculture, Siegfried Huber, once again called for the protection status of the wolf to be lowered on Wednesday: “The fact that wolves are threatened with extinction no longer corresponds to reality,” Huber said in a broadcast. The Carinthian FPÖ also called for the protection status to be lowered – the ÖVP’s agriculture ministers have been inactive in this regard for years.
Source: Nachrichten
