The Wolf's Return: Challenges and Solutions for Livestock Protection

After many years of absence, the wolf has found its way back to Europe and to the Netherlands, where it has already managed to establish itself in various places.

The arrival of the wolf has also created a lot of discussion in our society, not only between supporters and opponents of the wolf but especially in the agricultural sector and how to deal with the presence of wolves. One of the issues that come up frequently is how can we protect our livestock against an attack by a wolf.

Faunabeheer Midden Nederland is a proactive company that has been trained in Saxony-Anhalt (DE) by the Wolf Competence Centre in collaboration with the Mammal Society to determine whether wolves exist in an area. Faunabeheer Midden Nederland is the first company in the Netherlands that will be certified specifically aimed at wolves and is ready to advise provinces where necessary.

Through the help of ICU CLOM Cam4 and Cam5 network cameras, Faunabeheer Midden Nederland has been monitoring the activity of wolves in the Utrecht province for the last 8 months to gain a deeper understanding of the boundaries and territories in which the wolves are habituating. From the 25 ICU CLOM network cameras strategically positioned in an area of 133.9 square kilometres, Faunabeheer Midden Nederland reports on sightings and movement of wolves and uploads footage to a national database, which at this stage, have been plentiful.

In addition to the monitoring and surveillance of wolf activity in the province, the work that Faunabeheer Midden Nederland is undertaking has played an active role in helping to develop the technology in the network cameras, feeding information back to ICU to help improve the user experience.

Currently, wolf recognition is not yet available in the ICU AI software, but with the help of more recordings of the wolf through the ICU CLOM network cameras, more information is utilised by ICU to develop the AI software, and ultimately become more efficient in recognising the wolf.