Home security cameras capture wolf boldly 'greeting' family's dogs
A particularly brazen wolf was this week spotted going right up to the yard of house on the Estonia-Latvia border, while its fellows kept watch from nearby, Maaleht reported.
The Estonian Hunters' Society reported the incident happened on Tuesday, near the village of Ipiki, on the Latvian side of the border.
Local residents say this is not the first such case, adding that a pack of about seven animals regularly roams around the vicinity.
This visit was captured on surveillance camera and shows a single wolf boldly approaching a garden fence in a playful manner, despite the barking of the family dogs confronting it, or even the presence of a person moving around in the yard.
Footage filmed at the same time and from another angle reveals three more wolves keeping an eye on the situation at a distance, in the adjacent field.
The incident is the latest in several in recent weeks which have seen wolves attacking dogs or livestock or otherwise moving in areas of human habitation.
The Environmental Agency says the wolf population has been stable over the past year and, with at least 25 wolf litters in mainland Estonia.
Culling season is underway; 84 wolves may be hunted this season in Estonia, in addition to the 12 already culled via off-season special permit, though incidents like those reported above are likely be used to put pressure on authorities to hike the quota.
In the other direction, NGO Eesti suurkiskjad MTÜ, an animal rights organization, has successfully halted wolf and bear culls in the recent past, via the courts.
As noted the recent spot happened on the border with Latvia, which sets cull levels considerably higher than does Estonia.
--
Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Maaleht
