Department of Equine Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Economics and Management, Nuertingen-Geislingen University, Nürtingen, Germany.
Association for the Promotion of Research on Horses and Wolves (VFWPW), Former AK Pferd & Wolf Until 2020, Verden, Lower Saxony, Germany.
PLoS One. 2023 Aug 10;18(8):e0289767. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289767. eCollection 2023.
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.
2000 年，狼群重新回到德国，这导致德国马主担心他们的马匹可能会有遭受狼群袭击的危险，或者在看到狼群时会像从牧场逃出来一样惊慌失措。然而，来自南欧国家的报告表明，随着野生动物数量的增加，狼对马的捕食行为会减少。因此，我们在 2015 年 1 月至 2022 年 7 月期间，对 13 匹非繁殖骑乘马、母马和公马进行了长期的实地观察，这些马被永久性地饲养在野生动物活动范围内的两个牧场和一个有年度后代的稳定狼群附近的马厩中。牧场围栏上的野生动物摄像机共记录了 984 次狼和 3151 次野生动物在牧场内外的活动。2022 年 1 月 1 日至 2022 年 3 月 23 日，我们观察了两个稳定的马群。牧场 1 由 5 匹混种马、4 匹母马和 1 匹公马组成，平均年龄为 8 岁（最小年龄=6 岁，最大年龄=29 岁）。牧场 2 由 8 匹重型温血马和挽马、3 匹母马和 5 匹公马组成，平均年龄为 16 岁（最小年龄=13 岁，最大年龄=22 岁）。在这段时间里，牧场 2 没有记录到狼，但有几次记录到野猪，而在牧场 1，记录到狼 89 次，野生动物主要是野兔。狼可能避开了牧场 2，因为那里有野猪，或者因为大群年龄较大、体型较重的马可能形成了一个稳定的、有保护力的群体。这需要在后续的实地观察中得到证实，观察记录马的抗捕食行为和福利指标。总之，在有大量野生动物的牧场上，狼没有攻击成熟的马，而马也没有因为狼的存在而表现出明显的福利下降或恐慌的迹象。这表明，狼可能更喜欢捕食牧场周围和附近容易捕捉的野生动物，而中欧的马也逐渐习惯了非捕猎狼的存在。
