AN-NAHAR قتل زوج ذئاب في البقاع- الغربي! – النهار

Wolves in Lebanon

A husband of wolves was killed in the western Bekaa!

Daniel Khayat Source: Zahle - "An-Nahar", November 20, 2015

Hearing about the killing of a wolf in Lebanon is interesting news, and many are upset at the same time. So what about two wolves being killed within 6 days, then it becomes unusual news. It is not uncommon in terms of the scarcity of wolves in Lebanon, so that the director of the “Wildlife Recognition Center – Lebanon” in Aley Munir Abu Said likens their numbers to “a needle in a hill of straw.” Rather, it remains a familiar news regarding the killing in Sidon, so what if we told you that in the snowstorm there were those who killed a deer who strayed towards the plain, and took pictures of his action?

The news becomes even stranger when it is announced that the two wolves were not ambushed and killed in a remote neighborhood. Rather, they were killed in the vicinity of Gaza town, which is in the middle of the western Bekaa Valley, which is the most populous and economically dense area in the central strip of western Bekaa.
On “Facebook” published the news of the killing of the first wolf on May 12, and then the second wolf was killed on the 18th of this month by a young man from Gaza town, Ahmed M. We headed to Gaza, to make sure of the authenticity of the news, which met with favorable comments, and others condemned. Ahmed justified what he had done by saying that it aimed to “limit the attack of wolves on the farms of citizens in the region and to protect their livelihood.” He talked about several incidents more than a month ago when guard dogs in Gaza farms responded to attacks, and attacked sheep on a farm in the popular market, and another 100 meters away from his farm.

Ahmed owns a cattle farm, in a farmland gathering area on the outskirts of Gaza, not far from the Litani River and the town’s landfill site, where he killed a pair of wolves, a female and a male. Both times, he says, he used to deliver a worker after milking was done, around two and a half after midnight. And that in both of them he used a hunting weapon, but the first time he did not know that the animal that shot him and brought him was a wolf, rather he thought that dogs were the ones that he encountered on his way and attacked him, so he went back and followed her on her motorcycle with his neighbor. The second time, he says, he saw the animal “crouching” at the “Sirah” of sheep belonging to the Syrian refugee camp, which is also located between the Litani and the garbage dump, so he shot and killed him. And when he saw another approaching the body of the animal that he wanted, he shot him, but he missed it.
So there is a third? Rather, according to the account of one of Ahmad’s neighbors, on one of the nights of last February, he saw four under the light, and at that time his father answered him that they might be foxes.
If there is more than one wolf? Hey who said they are wolves? All our information comes from Ahmed and his companions, and the pictures they took of the two animals, as their carcasses were disposed of in the town’s dump.
It was necessary to seek the help of those who have experience with wildlife in Lebanon and they are few. We contacted the director of the “Wildlife Recognition Center – Lebanon” in Aley, Dr. Mounir Abu Said, and provided him with the available pictures. Abu Said suggested the wolf’s hypothesis, and I am very sorry that it became apparent to him through the pictures that the female was pregnant as shown by her breasts. He concludes that “by killing them an entire family has been wiped out.” “Killing wolves, intentionally or unintentionally, is a mistake. Their numbers in Lebanon are like a needle in a hill of straw, and their effect on humans is zero,” he added.

Abu Said continues, “The extinction of the wolf in Lebanon will not threaten the survival of this animal in the world, because we are a point by the sea, but its extinction will lead to an imbalance in the natural balance in Lebanon. The first of its effects is the reproduction of the wild Boar, due to the scarcity of its natural enemy, which is the wolf.” A big problem for farmers in the mountain, as it migrates in the heat season to wet areas and irrigated lands, where it destroys crops. “

Said says, “The time has come to get rid of the myths that instilled in us fear of wild animals, whether wolves or hyenas, and justified our killing of them.” He explained that wolves do not attack humans, do not kill herds for the purpose of killing only, and they cannot break into fenced and sealed farms, and that guard dogs are able to keep them away. He pointed out that “cattle herders have more awareness than hunters who kill wolves.” He called for “following the example of our ancestors among the pastors, who used to respect nature and thus realize that the wolf is a need.” Pointing out that the effect of the wolf remains less expensive than the disease that can eliminate and destroy herds. He expressed his regret for the spring hunting, that is, during the breeding season of birds and animals, so that catching one bird, for example, especially if it is a female, means the elimination of 3 to 4 cohorts.
Returning to the wolves and their presence in the Gaza Plain, Abu Saeed explains that the wolf travels between 40 and 70 km per night in search of food, and when it is unable to hunt, it feeds on carcasses or waste. He said that due to the smallness of the spaces, it is rare to see two or three wolves moving together.