On Monday afternoon, “a team of nature watchers from the ICNF went to the location [Vila de Ala] to carry out an investigation into the alleged attack, and six dead adult sheep were reported, along with three lambs. There are also 15 sheep and four lambs missing”, indicated the ICNF in a written response sent to the Lusa agency today.

According to the ICNF, the expert opinion will still be subjected to technical analysis and, if it is confirmed that the damage was caused by the wolf, the beneficiary will receive the corresponding compensation.

Since January, the ICNF added, there have been records of six joint incidents by nature watch teams from the Douro Internacional Natural Park (PNDI), four of which were recorded in the municipality of Mogadouro, in the district of Bragança.

The owner of the herds, Mário Mora, told Lusa that he believed that, in the early hours of Monday, a wolf attack occurred on his animals.

“Both my father and I noticed that there were several corpses of sheep and lambs in the area where they were grazing. From the bite, we will quickly realise that it was an attack by a wolf or wolves”, explained Mário Mora.

“The attack resulted in the death of a ram, six sheep, and some offspring that were a month or two old,” he said, adding that this was the first time his animals had been attacked.