Sheep with “armor”: The gesture by which a farmer wants to protect his four-footed animals from wolves. The move outraged animal protection organizations
An Austrian farmer dressed his sheep in body armor to keep wolves at bay. The invention belonging to another Austrian caused a scandal. Representatives of animal protection organizations filed criminal complaints.
Sheep in armor PHOTO: X
An Austrian farmer and inventor have found themselves in the middle of a scandal over an unusual protective suit for sheep, according to Mediafax.
The inventor has created a suit with metal spikes that is meant to protect sheep from wolf attacks. The 72-year-old man claims to have worked for years on the development of the protective suit.
The device covers much of the sheep's body and features outward-facing spikes designed to prevent wolves from inflicting fatal injuries during attacks. He says he started working on the suit after the number of wolves increased greatly in the region where he lives.
The farmer and the inventor caused a huge scandal
The invention, presented as a solution for the coexistence of livestock farmers and wild predators, has attracted the attention of authorities and animal welfare organizations. An anonymous tip reported that a sheep was “placed in a barbed wire net so as not to be eaten by the bad wolf”.
Subsequently, a whole scandal broke out, and complaints were filed against the farmer and the inventor. They are accused of breaching animal welfare legislation and animal husbandry regulations.
An animal welfare organization has called for testing of the suit's effects on sheep and called for a ban on its use. Several experts rejected the inventor's arguments, claiming that wearing the suit could cause unnecessary suffering to the sheep.
The case has reignited the debate in Austria over methods of protecting herds and the balance between wildlife conservation and the interests of livestock farmers.
