“We tried to catch them for several weeks using different methods. “It didn’t work, unfortunately they were very shy,” explained Manuela Herzog, district governor of Wiedhofen an der Daya to noe.ORF.at. Originally the pasture was brought by a farmer from Upper Austria. They tried it with the dogs, and then, along with the hunters, they tried to stop the animals with silenced guns, but that didn’t work either.
“With a Trunvilizer gun, you need to be relatively close to the animals to shoot a targeted shot – so about 15 to 20 meters. As soon as the cattle heard a branch breaking, they immediately retreated from the meadow to the forest,” says Herzog. On Thursday, the affected farmer decided to kill the animals with the help of hunters. did, “NÖN” also reports.
Killed animals were used
It is not known why Herzog suddenly decided to do this, but the search and capture efforts were very difficult. Above all, the District Governor insisted that the owner was only responsible for his cattle. It was emphasized that the affected farmer did not want to comment on this.
But the animals did not die in vain. The affected farmer brought in a slaughterhouse operator during the collection to process the cattle shortly after. A fate that would have befallen her at some point anyway.
However, if the cattle hadn’t been caught early or killed in a controlled manner, “ferals” would have occurred, Herzog explained. “So we as the district administration may have to forcefully remove the animals as they pose a danger to the community. “So it’s not possible to use animals,” explains Herzog.
The cattle kept the officers on their toes
In early June, eight cattle escaped in Timling. A search operation was carried out in conjunction with the fire department – drones were also used. Two cattle returned to their owner after some time. The usual animals roamed the Waldviertel area for weeks.
According to the district administration, there is no danger to the public. The animals always stayed in forests and meadows and were considered very shy – about which the authorities deal with runaway cattle (noe.ORF.at, June 18, 2024).
