Targeted by vandals

“Beware of wolf” signs need protection themselves

Vandals destroyed the wolf warning sign, now a two-meter-high wire mesh fence protects a new one.(Bild: zVg, Johann Groder, Krone KREATIV)

Because a sign had been destroyed, Wolfstopp chairman Gerhard Fallent has now erected his own wire mesh fence around the warning sign on his land. Why a case in Upper Austria is particularly worrying, what the sign campaign is intended to achieve and how many have already been erected, according to him.

"This time it was the livestock owner himself - next time it could be anyone who happens to be in the area," emphasizes Waldviertel Wolf Stop Chairman Gerhard Fallent, referring to Ulrichsberg in Upper Austria. A farmer there was injured by his own ox. The ox - previously spooked by a wolf - attacked the farmer.

I even have to protect my warning sign with a fence. What else do you have to do to reduce the risk of liability?

Gerhard Fallent, Wolfstopp-Obmann

Landowners have a duty of care
Following the increased number of wolves around Langschlag in the Zwettl district, Fallent founded the initiative and recently launched a free wolf warning sign campaign with the FPÖ, as reported by the "Krone" newspaper. The signs are intended to warn hikers that the predator is also present in the areas and that the grazing animals are increasingly disturbed and therefore far more dangerous for humans, i.e. in places where there are no predators.

Act of vandalism at the chairman's house
The sign that had been erected at the wolf stop chairman's home was destroyed and the stake was torn out of the ground. Fallent then placed his warning sign under protection - and erected a wire mesh fence around the board. He filed a complaint because the preventive action to prevent damage had been sabotaged.

With 150 warning signs erected in Lower Austria, Styria and Upper Austria, the campaign got off to a great start, says Fallent. Whether the signs will now be placed under EU protection, like the wolf itself, remains doubtful despite the act of vandalism