Wolves are a nightmare for the inhabitants of the mountains of Fthiotida and Evrytania

“We don’t know where to hide. For now the wolves they find and eat sheep, cows and goats. What if they get hungry? I will attack in people?”

In the village square they see a wolf visiting them once or twice a week, the inhabitants at Kyriakohori her Western Fthiotidas.

East of the village Anavara her Magnesiain the highlands of Mt Enemy, residents hear the howls of wolves almost every night. The same images are described by the residents on its ridge Kallidromou from Eleftherochori up to them Lumberjacks but also in Oiti and Unwritten.

“THE condition he’s got escape. We don’t know where to let’s take care. For now the wolves they find and eat sheep, cows and goats. What if they get hungry? Will they attack people?’ notes in APE-MPE o Dionysus Kyriopoulos from the West Lusttgiven that in the last two years he sees his herd continuously decreasing and he himself is concerned “if he should keep them or take them to the slaughterhouse” as he says.

The same messages from his area Kallidromoufrom Oitifrom her villages Enemynorth of the Stylus.

“The disturbances have been constant in recent years, but in her area Fthiotidas the wolf is protected from European conditions. There is a correspondence with the relevant services but that’s it. After all, any measures will arise after scientific studies” underlines the Panayiotis Kravarite his forester Forestry her Lamias who has been dealing with the specific issues for decades and is actually the one who receives, almost daily, the pressures from the breeders for the situation that has developed.

“There are areas where the wild boar has been restricted and the hunters who go find only wolves in front of them” notes Kostas Pearl, hunter himself who speaks to APE-MPE and states that “from her Anavra Magnesia up to and including Old cherry of Fthiotida, a distance of 20 kilometers, the wolves they chase them wild boar and maliin they do not hesitate to reach even inside the plain. The previous they listened for years dogs the people and they left. Now they sit and wait.”

In the mountain villages, if they do not see the wolves in the streets and courtyards of the villages, they hear their howls, almost every night.

Breeders talk about herds from wolves and in fact, they talk about seven or eight herds regionally from the village Eleftherochori.

“What we see him last one time we haven’t seen it in our entire life. Herds from wolves they kill big ones cows free grazing even 300 kg each. In the last month alone they have eaten more than 10 animals in the area” underlines the Angelica Papaioannou who has recently been counting losses and looking for her animals in rugged areas, without having found them. But he also sees animals to turn injured from the battle which they gave with the wolves.

“I found two and declared them to ELGA, but the compensations are insignificant. The rest I may find bones after 1 or 2 months and there is no compensation. THE wolves they don’t shut us down appointment…”

“If the situation continues, if the wolf packs are not controlled, then the free-range cattle will disappear,” says Vassiliki Papaioannou which she also keeps a herd of cows to Kallidromo.

The same situation in Evrytania until the distant ones Unwritten. “The Unwritten they develop into a wolf farm. Herds are disappearing and animal husbandry is constantly declining. We will eliminate the sheep and make packs of wolves. The situation is desperate…” he tells APE-MPE John Goulas describing the desperation of the breeders in their area Agrafon of Evrytania.

The requests that ELGA accepts for compensations are also varied, but according to Dionysus Kyriopoulos “it is a complex process as we have to locate the killed animals within 48 hours in the steep mountains, find the hooves and hand them over because otherwise we are not covered by the ELGA. Such a thing is unlikely, therefore there is no compensation and this brings despair to the breeders themselves” as he characteristically says.

It is worth noting that its entire area Fthiotidas it is located below the 39th parallel where the absolute protection of the wolf is imposed as in previous years it was endangered.

The breeders and the residents of mountainous areas they talk bluntly about “overpopulation which has surpassed the limits».

What do the scientists say?

His scientists have the opposite opinion Arcturus where watch her development of.

“That some residents in mountain villages see more often wolf near their villages, does not mean that we have overpopulation. After all, at the country level there are between 700 and 1,000 wolf individuals” underlines the communication manager of Arcturus, speaking to APE-MPE Panayiotis Stefanou.

At the same time, he notes that “there are no specific population data for its area Fthiotidas and her Evrytania as it exists movement population from region to region”.