Wolves ravage southern Kyrgyzstan

OSH – An unusually cold winter has driven packs of wolves and jackals to descend from the mountains in pursuit of food, threatening not only livestock but farmers and villagers and forcing the government to take countermeasures.

Muradil Akunbayev, a 62-year-old resident of Bulolu village, Alai District, Osh Oblast, said wolf attacks on cattle and sheep have become frequent.

“There have been severe frosts down to -30 Celsius this year, and this is the reason the wolves are dropping in on remote ... farms and attacking defenceless animals,” he said.

Wolves have preyed on sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, cows and even yaks, Akunbayev said. None of the villagers will go out at night, though wolves have yet to attack a human this winter.

“In January alone, the wolves killed eight horses, three cows and more than 20 sheep in Bulolu, so the residents of our and other villages have had to seek help from the local authorities,” said Akunbayev.

The government is not idle, said Jumanazar Kamalov, head of the Osh Oblast government’s Agricultural Development and Natural Resources Department:

“Residents of remote villages are worried by the significant losses (up to 10%) that shepherds’ livestock are suffering, and this is why the district administrations are dedicating their resources to reducing the wolf population.”

Each village, Kamalov said, has organised one or two groups of volunteers with hunting rifles. They are targeting predators and receive cash rewards for each animal killed. The hide of an adult wolf fetches 5,000 KGS ($106); that of a juvenile, 3,500 KGS ($74), and that of a jackal, 3,000 KGS ($64).

“We’re also paying for equipment and transportation and are providing the volunteers with dry rations,” said Abdymitalip Sarybashev of the Bulolu Village administration.

Hunters killed more than 70 wolves in Alai District in January alone, Sarybashev said. But livestock herders are still losing animals.

In December, authorities enacted various measures and budgeted funds to support reduction of the wolf population.

“Last year, the government adopted a Decree on the State Support of Measures to Regulate the Number of Wolves and Jackals,” said Sardalbek Koilubayev, director of the Department of Hunting Supervision and Regulation of Game Animal Populations.

He added that the Finance Ministry has allocated 1m KGS ($21,200) to co-finance measures to control the wolf and jackal population and to incentivise hunters.

Remote, mountainous villages are the most concerned about the predators, Koilubayev said, but wolves have descended into valleys like those in Kara-Suu and Uzgen districts in Osh Oblast.

“Worst of all, the wolves are killing a lot of animals when they attack the livestock, even when they can carry away only one or two,” Koilubayev said. “The rest of the sheep and goats are wounded or killed, and the villagers are suffering the losses.”

Livestock herders’ improper practices are luring wolves, argued Ilya Domashov, an ecologist at the NGO Biom.

“If you know about the impending cold and the possible appearance of predators, you have to move (the livestock) from dangerous areas to protected structures like sheep pens; otherwise, we won’t avoid these (attacks).”

Domashov said wolves regulate their own population as their habitat dictates. The wolves are devouring livestock because local residents are “killing mountain goats, mountain sheep and other animals that make up their natural diet,” he said.

The anti-wolf measures are essential, Koilubayev contended. “If the wolf and jackal populations increase very much, they will start attacking people,” he said. “Such cases have not yet occurred, but where is the guarantee that the wolves won’t kill people? That’s why we’ll continue fighting the predators until they retreat to the mountains.”