by OldmanFCSA on Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:24 am
When I had my farm, I had several Guard Animals, a Guard Llama, and a Guard Anotolian Shepard dog (which are bred in country of Turkey for killing wolves) that were a great protector of my herds, flocks, and kids.
We had a Lone Wolf in the area that the DNR had collared, and was normally not a problem as he stayed about a mile from my livestock area. But whenever I contacted the DNR, I was told there were "no wolves in this area".
One day the dog came home really tore up, but dragging that wolf, which he had killed. It was a characteristic of the breed to bring the kill to the master. The battle occurred within one of my livestock fenced areas.
When the collar transmitted the wolf was dead, stationary, the DNR showed up asking where the wolf was, I told them there was "no wolves in the area" repeating what they told me. Then, under duress, showed them the Wolf remains, and the Vet bill for patching up my Guard Dog. They demanded I destroy the Guard Dog that killed the protected wolf. I demanded they leave my property and not come back until they could speak truthfully. "Someone" finally shot my Guard Dog while it was in the field protecting my wife's sheep flock. Guess who showed up the next day??? After that, many wolves died of lead poisoning, many farm animals were killed by wolves and bear, and many more wolves and bear died accidentally. S-S-S KEPT THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD BUSY.
After leaving the area, for unrelated medical reasons, the area was overrun by wolves, deer hunting which once was great, is now non-existant, with many hunting camps closing up and moving further East and South. Farms in area have been decimated by wolf kills, but the DNR still supports the re-population of the wolf. The local economy suffers because of the wolves. At least, the Federal Animal Damage Control Agency will support the farmers, only after proving $1700 loss of livestock or pets.
My 700 acre farm was the last private property inside a huge National Forest area, thus the reason why I was hit by wolves before many had issues outside of the area.