Below we present the letter from the District Veterinary Inspectorate:
The District Veterinary Inspector in Bolesławiec reminds all dog owners that [...] all dogs over three months of age throughout the country are subject to mandatory preventive vaccination against rabies.
Dog owners are required to vaccinate their dogs against rabies within 30 days of the dog reaching three months of age, and thereafter at least once every 12 months from the date of the last vaccination. This means that dogs should be vaccinated every year, and the vaccination is valid for one year.
Anyone who evades the obligation to vaccinate dogs against rabies [...] is subject to a fine. Any dog that has not been vaccinated against rabies may pose a threat to human health and life if it comes into contact with wild animals.
In connection with the recent cases of wolves attacking dogs, the District Veterinary Inspector in Bolesławiec reminds owners that dogs outside the property must remain under their owner’s supervision. In addition, dogs running loose, as well as guard dogs, should be kept on a closed property or in a secured, lockable kennel adapted for the dog.
Let us recall that one such incident occurred during the night of May 26–27 in Brzeźnik. The dog’s owner called veterinarian Piotr Klasa from the “Animals Doctor” clinic to the scene. Mr. Klasa initially did not believe the caller. But after examining the carcass, he changed his mind.
As the veterinarian emphasized in a conversation with istotne.pl, cases of this kind are generally very rare. (Last year, wolves killed 20 sheep in Gromadka.) In the doctor’s opinion, this was a very strange situation, because there are plenty of roe deer nearby. And they are wolves’ main source of food.
Another reader informed us that, in the early hours of May 29, there was another wolf attack on a dog in Mierzwin:
A lone wolf entered the property through an open gate and attacked a dog [...]. The wolf was alone and—according to the dog’s owner—was sick, because it fought the small dog for about two minutes, then grabbed it and left the property.
As we managed to establish, several such incidents have occurred in Mierzwin recently. (The District Veterinary Inspectorate in Bolesławiec was notified of the matter.)
Why do wolves attack dogs?
Dr Sabina Nowak wrote on the website of Stowarzyszenia dla Natury „Wilk”:
Dogs are domesticated wolves. The two species can interbreed, which shows that despite the long process of domestication, they differ little genetically. Wolves probably believe that dogs are still wolves. They have no idea that a dog has an owner who feeds and maintains it, and often also feels great affection for it. They treat dogs as competitors for territory and food. If dogs are allowed to run loose, they regularly visit nearby forests and leave feces and urine there, especially on wolf droppings and markings. They also eat scraps from wolves’ prey. We often see this in recordings from our camera traps. For the local wolf family group, this unequivocally means marking their territory and attempting to seize it by an outsider, as well as a threat to their offspring. It is a bit like a stranger entering our home, scattering their belongings there, eating food from the refrigerator and settling in while we are away, then disappearing.
A breeding pair of wolves protecting their offspring and food resources can easily follow a scent trail to the yard where such a dog lives. They can also easily recognize it when they encounter it in the field. That is why cases of local wolves killing dogs in forests, fields, and even in yards or beside kennels are not uncommon.
A wolf killing a dog is not an act of blind aggression, but rather the protection of its own resources. For this reason, wolves do not pose a threat to people, because to a wolf, a human is not a competitor in the environment.
Cases of dogs being aggressive toward other dogs, as well as dogs attacking farm animals, are frequently observed. Unfortunately, in such situations wolves are most often blamed for the death of a dog or the killing of livestock. It is not true that only homeless or stray dogs pose a threat, because such incidents may also be caused by animals that have owners. There may be such strong antagonisms between dogs living in neighboring homes that they kill one another. Genetic tests of saliva collected from the wounds of injured or dead dogs also point to this.
Moreover, in the natural environment, and now even near buildings, dogs can be killed by wild boar, including sows defending their offspring. They can severely bite or even kill a dog when they or their offspring are threatened.
I do not believe that wolves killing dogs pose a threat to people, so there is probably no need to raise the alarm and cause panic in areas where such situations occur. However, all dog owners should know that Polish law prohibits letting dogs run loose in the forest. Dogs, even beloved lapdogs, can be very effective killers of forest animals, roe deer, and even red deer calves. Scientific research proves this. It must also be remembered that by letting a dog run loose in the forest, we expose it to danger from the wild animals living there.
What should we do if a wolf has already killed our dog?
As we read on the website of Gminy Bolesławiec:
[…] The State Treasury is liable for damage caused by animals under species protection, including wolves.
- The damage should be reported immediately to the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Wrocław, who inspects and assesses the damage and determines the amount and payment of compensation.
- The injured party must prove that the damage was caused by wolves. In addition, several rules should be remembered:
- the killed animal should not be removed before the people conducting the inspection arrive
- all traces of the incident should be secured
- if possible, photographic documentation should be made of the killed animal and other traces within the incident site (tracks, marks left by dragging the victim, feces), as well as of the site itself and the security measures used, such as fencing.
The damage should also be reported to a veterinarian, who may determine the cause of death of the affected animal, prepare a description of the condition of the carcass and identify other valuable information facilitating the proper consideration of the compensation claim, as well as to representatives of hunting clubs and the forest district, who may search the site for predator tracks or other characteristic signs of their presence and inspect the carcass.- Compensation is not available if the damage caused by wolves occurred between sunset and sunrise while the animals were without direct supervision. In disputed cases concerning the amount of compensation for damage caused, among other things, by wolves, ordinary courts have jurisdiction
- The injured party should submit a compensation claim together with the necessary attachments listed in the application. Compensation covers the market price of the killed animal, the costs of carcass disposal and its transport to the nearest carcass-disposal company, the cost of a veterinarian’s visit to confirm the animal’s death, and treatment costs, based on the submitted invoices.