Sao Pedro do Sul: hundreds of dead sheep

Strange Mass Killing of Sheep

www.tvi24.iol.pt

120 Sheep from 190 were found dead with strong violence evidence this tuesday in 4 a hectars land in Portugal. The shepherd of the flock thinks it were the wolves (there aren`t many in Portugal) who did it, but biologists don`t understand the killing not being to feed themselves. Not a normal behaviour they say. Besides this has never happened in Portugal and the authorities are still not sure about what it may have caused this ...Please note the incredible coincidences this story has with the related news link bellow !...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
missoulian.com

I`m sorry the news sourse is in Portuguese but it`s not available in English nor there is a video or a photo of it.

However, when I was making a google search on this in english, I found a very similar situation that happened in the USA in 2009. It was also in August and the number of dead sheep was also 120 - What an incredible coincidence, don`t you think so ?!

Bellow is the link to this news...

Wolves Killl 120 Sheep At Ranch Near Dillon

In a highly unusual move for wolves, they killed about 120 adult male sheep in one incident on the Rebish/Konen Livestock Ranch south of Dillon last week.

That compares with a total of 111 sheep killed by wolves in Montana in 2008, according to Carolyn Sime, the statewide wolf coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"This is one of the most significant losses that I've seen," Sime said. "That situation is really unfortunate."

Suzanne Stone with Defenders of Wildlife added that in the 20 years she's been working toward ensuring healthy wolf populations, this is the first time she's heard of such a mass killing.

"I've heard of bears or mountain lions doing that, but what usually happens is the sheep panic and jump on top of one another or fall into a ditch and suffocate," Stone said. "I've never heard of any situation where wolves killed so much livestock in such a short period of time.

"... This is the most extreme case I've ever heard about."



Read more: missoulian.com...

Maybe the wolves want humans to freeze to death and they knew that we get wool out of jumpers?

reply to post by AQ6666


Werewolf tri-annual slaughter celebration. usually happens in less modernised countries.
wont happen again for a few years.

reply to post by Raivan31


...hmmm, we did have a full moon on that date !

If in fact were the wolves who did it, it`s a strange behavior to say the least ...wonder what might be causing this to the animals

Originally posted by AQ6666
reply to post by Raivan31

 

...hmmm, we did have a full moon on that date !

If in fact were the wolves who did it, it`s a strange behavior to say the least ...wonder what might be causing this to the animals

edit on 18-8-2011 by AQ6666 because: (no reason given)

edit on 18-8-2011 by AQ6666 because: (no reason given)

Wild animals never kill in such large numbers and when they do kill it's for food.
The only animal that kills so much, so quick without eating the kills is man. this had to be the work of people.

reply to post by Raivan31


Add to the probability that it was people the exact number, not 123 or 137 but exactly 120. Very strange.
It would be interesting to know what kinds of wounds were present and if any similarities or patterns exist ie: missing organs, blood, particular damage patterns.

reply to post by AQ6666


this is very strange , ...i live only 11 miles from the place mentioned in the article , it is a very very rural place , yet i have not heard about this until i came on ATS today ...
i will ask around for some more info.

snoopyuk

Originally posted by Raivan31
reply to post by Raivan31

 

Add to the probability that it was people the exact number, not 123 or 137 but exactly 120. Very strange.

Anything with a 0 or 5 at the end you would class as strange though, and its only really a 1 in 5 chance of that number, so not really strange to me on the number side...

reply to post by snoopyuk


This is why I love ATS - news on the ground by our own. Please post back on the thread and let us know if you find anything out!

reply to post by Open2Truth


Ok ...i am back ,

after speaking with many many people , Farmers , Forestry workers and a neighbour who is a Head Warden at the National park in the North of the country .(where they do have wolves )

the general consensus is that it is NOT Wolves , but rather wild dogs , which we have lots and lots of .

here is a link to a great bit of info on the Iberian Wolves it is a PDF )
Wolves in Portugal
www.wolvesandhumans.org...

these 3 studies refer to wolves in Portugal and they are all fairly old (7 plus years)so I have no idea how useful they are in terms of wolf numbers now.
They do reckon there are two different lots of the Iberian wolves still in Portugal on opposite sides of the Douro though.. numbers are presumed to be between 3-500.(last cencus was 2003 I think)Its feasible that numbers have improved and they are moving south

will update with any new info if there is any.

snoopyuk

reply to post by snoopyuk


Thanks for the update from the local area. I don't know why wild dogs would be killing all these sheep when it apparently wasn't for food. Anyone with wild dog knowledge want to chime in?

I too don`t understand why would a wild dog, a wolf or any other wild animal kill if not to feed or defend themselves

Other thing I find curious is the similarity of this story to the one I mentioned above that happened in 2009 in Dillon, USA.

Something might have caused this behaviour to the animals.

Now, just imagine if a human was there unarmed

I just wanted to chime in on this. You asked why would an animal just kill. Well I don't have a scientific answer but I can say we read about in the news everyday.
Anyway I wanted to share a story that happened to me a few years back. I have told this story before so some of you may remember me posting about this in the past.
I live in a semi rual area. Anyway my neighbor who's land is marked for agriculture and I decided to raise some chickens. We built a pen with wood and chicken wire, got our chicks and were on our way to having fresh eggs for our families. All had been going well all spring and summer and the chickens were doing great. Very healthy and starting to produce a few eggs. Well.... I got up one morning and walked up the road to my neighbors property to feed and water the chickens, when I start getting close I realize I can't hear them. As I get closer to pen I can see no movement but just bodies of dead chickens everywhere. As I get up to the pen, I had to throw up. All the chickens had been torn to pieces. heads laying all over with bodies just torn open. feathers everwhere. None of the chicken bodies had been eaten just ripped and torn apart. After doing some investigation and speaking with the dnr. We realized what had happened was Mink had dug under the fence and just had a party. Why? The dnr said they had seen this happen quite offten.. Mink smell the chickens they move in and if they can find a way to get at them they do. It had nothing to do with hunger, or safety. A few days later I was in my yard with my dogs and a mink comes out of no where. Dogs chased and it took off under the fence and into the woods. Dnr said they tracked the smell of the chickens to my home and came looking for more fun.. That was one of the scariest things, We wouldn't even let the the kids out for a while because we were afraid these minks would try to attack them, We had to sterlize all shoes wash down all the decks and pavers around the house to get rid of the smell of the chickens.
Anyway thats my story, No one was able to give us a good reason why these wild minks did this other than, they just did it for fun. Go figure.

Originally posted by AQ6666
I too don`t understand why would a wild dog, a wolf or any other wild animal kill if not to feed or defend themselves :

domestic cats are the most prolific killers on the entire planet and they almost always do it for reasons other then food. coyotes have also been known to get kicks outta their prey.

Originally posted by Raivan31
reply to post by AQ6666

 

Werewolf tri-annual slaughter celebration. usually happens in less modernised countries.
wont happen again for a few years.

I didn't quite get what you mean there, but, in case you're going that way, Portugal is more modernized than many other countries like... Australia. Just saying.


As for the article, you guys are twisting it's meaning a bit. The deaths didn't happen at the same time. Some sheep already had signs of decomposition, and others were fresh kills. It wasn't even on the same day.

And yes, it's normal since more and more, farmers are making electric/normal fenses around their property, and just leaving the animals running "free" in that area.

It was only noticed when the number of deaths was too high. The sheep were easy pray.

as the previous poster has said , it was not all in one day / night .....and yes we do have a very big problem with wild dogs , many of them have now interbred with the local breed of dog ; Serra d Estrela . look them up the are huge beasts !! .

i myself have been chased by a pack of 15 wild dogs , 3 of which were massive Estrela dogs.

they estimate that there is around 4700 wild dogs , just in the North Central region alone.
they organised a cull a few years back , but were stopped when lots of nature loving / animal loving people complained to the EU government.

snoopyuk

Originally posted by Tifozi

Originally posted by Raivan31
reply to post by AQ6666

 

Werewolf tri-annual slaughter celebration. usually happens in less modernised countries.
wont happen again for a few years.

I didn't quite get what you mean there, but, in case you're going that way, Portugal is more modernized than many other countries like... Australia. Just saying.

....A Star to you for saying this


Well, it looks like the last 2 posts can explain what happened and make this case closed

Ok folks here is an UPDATE :

Two weeks back in São Pedro do Sul a "farmer" reported to the GNR ( Police ) that 70 -90 of his sheep had been killed by Wolves ( PT pays compensation for livestock killed by Wolves)
Big ho ha on TV - Farmer crying for camera over his loss..........

3 day's later the GNR issued a statement that the sheep had died from starvation & thirst , The farmer is now going to be charged ,


snoopyuk

reply to post by snoopyuk


If I hadn't starred your response before, I sure would now - there is nothing I love more than speculation about a topic, with local boots on the ground giving us the scoop in the end. Thank you for posting this logical conclusion to the story, and not leaving us hanging like so many threads where logical answers are found, but never posted.