Wolf contact in horses at permanent pasture in Germany

Abstract

Wolves returned to Germany in 2000, leading to fear in German horse owners that their horses could be in danger of wolf attacks or panic-like escapes from pastures when sighting wolves. However, reports from southern European countries indicate that wolf predation on horses diminishes with increasing presence of wildlife. Therefore, we conducted a long-term, filed observation between January 2015 and July 2022 on 13 non breeding riding horses, mares and geldings, kept permanently on two pastures within the range of wildlife and a stable wolf pack with annual offspring. Wildlife cameras at the fences of the pastures made 984 times recordings of wolves and 3151 times recordings of wildlife in and around the pastures. Between 1 January 2022 and 23 March 2022 we observed two stable horse groups. Pasture 1 was grazed by five horses of mixed breed, four mares and one gelding, with the median age of 8 years (min. = 6y, max. = 29y). Pasture 2 was grazed by eight heavy warmbloods and draught horses, three mares and five geldings, with the median age of 16 years (min. = 13y, max. = 22y). During this period no wolf was recorded at pasture 2, but wild boar several times, whereas at pasture 1, wolves were recorded 89 times, and for the wildlife mostly hare. Wolves may have avoided pasture 2 because of the presence of wild boar or because the large group of older, heavy breed horses may have formed a stable, protective group. The latter needs to be confirmed in a follow-up field observation, which records anti-predator behavior and welfare indicators in horses. In conclusion, wolves did not attack the mature horses on pastures with plenty of wildlife and the horses did not respond to the presence of wolves with visible signs of reduced welfare or panic. This indicates that wolves may prefer to prey on easily accessible wildlife around and at horse pastures and that Central European horses become accustom to the presence of non-hunting wolves.

How Useful Are Existing Protocols in the Quick Assessment of the Welfare of Semi-Feral Horses? Pilot Study on Konik Polski Horses Living in the Forest Sanctuary

“…Usually, these cracks heal as the horn grows, and the lameness disappears, meaning lameness can be a temporary impediment as opposed to indicating a severe injury. Nevertheless, any degree of lameness can impact the horse’s potential flight speed which, given the recent return of wolves to European forests and nearby grazing areas for horses [ 25 , 26 ], could put lame horses at much higher risk of predator attacks. We therefore suggest that the presence of lameness could be a factor that is weighted according to the risk of predation in a population.…”

“…Feral and semi-feral populations living in rocky or swamp environments are also at risk of injuries or fatal incidents due to rough terrain [ 13 , 14 ]. They can also sustain injuries as a consequence of fights between stallions and stallion harassment [ 20 ], infected insect bites [ 21 ], high levels of parasitism [ 22 , 23 , 24 ] or predator attacks [ 25 , 26 ], and hoof and leg deformations causing lameness [ 17 , 18 ]. Human impacts can also affect the welfare of free-living populations, for example via collisions with cars [ 27 ].…”