A tragic night on the farm. At least 30 sheep and lambs were mauled by a wolf (VIDEO)

On the night of 17-18 May, a major disaster struck Laimonas Zaveckis, a sheep farmer in Plungė district, when a wolf wandered into his pastures and slaughtered at least 30 sheep and lambs.

„Well, we have guests. All the sheep have been slaughtered. The throat has been cut... A lamb. Oh, Jesus...“, – this is how the farmer who captured the first images of the tragedy speaks in the shared video.

They show the wolf mowing down everything in a row, mostly the lambs that can't fight back. They were laid out in the pasture with their throats slit every 10-15 metres.

The sound of sheep mooing can be heard in the recording, but there don't seem to be many of them left. The farm has lost a large number of lambs and the total loss of livestock alone is estimated at around €12,000.

„I heard that the day before yesterday the sheep were bleating. I tried to find out why, but I did not see a wolf. But tonight it was very bad," Zaveckis told &bdash; „Agrobitei“, adding that there was probably one wolf. „I understood from the tracks“, – said Laimonas, who has a hunting license but has not yet purchased a hunting rifle.

He said the current procedure for dealing with problem wolves is not favourable, too cluttered. It can take several weeks to get a permit.

Sheep farmers say it would be much more efficient if the farmer, who is a hunter, could react lightning-fast and try to hunt down a wolf that is targeting the farm himself.

„Now I am trying to move all the lambs to a safer place. Some of them probably won't survive because of their injuries either, so the loss could be around 40 animals," says Zaveckis.

Hunters cannot help the farmer yet either. „They say we can only finish them off with shots, but so what,– said Laimonas sadly.

This is not the first time that greys have invaded Zaveckis's farm, but in the past they have not been so prevalent. The year before last, several sheep were slaughtered.

„It's a good thing the wolf didn't move into another herd about 500 metres away. There are about 400 sheep there. I'm afraid the wolf might come back," said Laimonas.

„Agrobite“ reminds us that wolves cannot be hunted at the moment. According to the rules of hunting on the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, the wolf hunting season starts on 15 October and lasts until 31 March.

The last season 341 wolves were allowed to be hunted, but the limit was not even reached (326 animals). Among the hunted were 1 wolf hit by a car and another 6 taken from the wild under special permits.

In some cases, permits can be obtained to remove problem wolves from the wild, but the procedure is bureaucratically complex.