Initiatives against dog tears on the mountain
The Salzburg hunters have already recorded at least five dog kills of deer and red deer this winter season. Most recently around the beginning and middle of February. Details on this in Again wild dogs tear deer (February 13, 2022; salzburg.ORF.at) and New game by dog: appeal of the hunters (February 3, 2022; salzburg.ORF.at).
Signs warn of heavily frequented places
The dogs were with their owners. Notice boards from the “Respect your borders” initiative are now drawing attention to this problem in many places in the country: “The boards are only at certain hotspots. You don’t want to ‘table’ the whole federal state. It should get back into your head that you get a feel for nature. If I see a forest beginning, I should leash the dog and not let it run loose. In the dog there is simply the wolf and the hunting instinct in the animal,” says Christoph Burgstaller from the “Respect your borders” initiative.
predominantly the dog owner is responsible
The majority of dog owners would stick to the rules of the game and put the dogs on a leash, the hunters found, but there were also black sheep: “Some are reasonable. But there are also those who immediately get upset when asked about it. There are stupid answers. I then give some of them back,” says Johann Fürst, caretaker of the Postalm.
Manchee has its own dog trails
In order to offer dog owners the opportunity to practice sport together with their dogs, there are now a number of cross-country ski trails throughout the state that can be used with dogs – this also shows on the Postalm: “The channeling on a dog cross-country ski run makes sense, man, that dog owners and animal lovers have a place there to use a dog trail with the dogs on a leash,” says Linus Pilar, Postalm Managing Director.
“There is a one kilometer long dog trail at Lake Achensee (Tyrol) and a seven hundred meter long one in Böckstein (Bad Gastein), but the two and a half kilometers here are really ideal. We train our dogs for up to 15 kilometers,” says Thomas Szendi, dog winter sports enthusiast from Unterach am Attersee (Upper Austria).
Also criticism of the dog track on the Postalm
The dog trail on the Postalm is also seen critically: “We’ve been surprised here. We are certainly not happy about this, because there is a deer feeding station right next to the dog trail. It’s been there for centuries. There are 20 to 30 roe deer every day that spend the winter here and that we also feed with two and a half to three tons,” says hunting tenant Udo Scherer.
Initiatives against dog tears on the mountain
The Salzburg hunters have already recorded at least five dog kills of deer and red deer this winter season. Not all winter sports enthusiasts who are out and about with their dogs put them on a leash. Projects such as the “Respect your limits” initiative aim to raise awareness of the problem. Offers for the considerate use of nature should be an offer for this.
The dog trail on the Postalm is now to be evaluated together. Ultimately, everyone involved wants to enable sporting activities with dogs without impairing the wild animals in their habitat.