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Wolves kill 98 sheep overnight in Russia’s Siberian republic of Tyva

Large scale hunting for wolves was announced in Russia’s Siberian republic of Tyva

GORNO-ALTAISK, February 7 (Itar-Tass) —— Large scale hunting for wolves was announced in Russia’s Siberian republic of Tyva after the predators killed as many as 98 sheep overnight, a spokesman for the republic's ministry of agriculture told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

The accident was reported near the settlement of Ondum at the foothills of the Kara Kozhagar mountain. Similar cases were reported from other localities. Sporadic measures to regulate the population of wolves seems to be to no avail. The damage to local sheep-breeding farms is estimated at more than 10 million rubles, there are cases, when wolves attack humans.

At the end of the rutting period hungry predators need to replenish their energy resources. Moreover, severe frosts make the beasts ever more aggressive.

Tyva has Russia’s biggest population of wolves – about 3,000. The wolf population in Tyva has considerably grown after the republic imposed a ban on the use of poisons as an anti-wolf measure. In the past year, wolves killed 4,500 horses, deer, yaks, sheep, and goats. The republic's authorities formed more than 100 teams to hunt wolves and offer up to 7,000 rubles for each wolf’s fell. In 2011, as many as 700 wolves were killed, with a limit of up to 1,000 animals.