Tiger by Sabrodt
A wolf shot down in Lusatia on February 27, 1904 , officially the last wolf shot in Germany, was called the Tiger von Sabrodt . It was a very large female animal that lived as a loner in Lusatia and had been hunted for years.
history
The "tiger" was shot on February 27, 1904 in the Tzschellner Kuthen by a forester from Weißkollm. The Upper Lusatian village of Tzschelln was located on the Spree between Neustadt and Boxberg ; it was used in 1979 for the Nochten opencast mine and dredged over . In February 1904, after four years of unsuccessful pursuit, the wolf broke through the rifle lines of 18 hunters several times. The shooter received 100 marks as a bounty for his kill. The animal was 1.60 m long, 80 cm withers and 41 kg live weight, a very large she-wolf. The carcass was exhibited for several days in the Hoyerswerdaer Schützenhaus and attracted more than 500 visitors in a short time.
Since the animal killed cattle and there had been no wolf in the area for a long time, it was initially suspected that the cause was an escaped circus animal. Notorious among the population as a predatory monster , it was nicknamed "Tiger von Sabrodt" after the place where it first appeared.
The following were reported of the kill:
“His caution and speed mocked all pursuits. After he had been felt repeatedly recently, on Saturday Mr. Revierforster Dommel reported certain signs of his presence to the royal forest ranger's office in Neustadt, whereupon a large police hunt was organized immediately. The freshly fallen snow made it possible to follow the trail of the animal, and numerous wagons brought riflemen and drivers to the trail quickly, so that in the afternoon it was possible to encircle the predator on the Tschelln district. Head forester Dutmer-Bohla shot and wounded it, but probably not fatally because he was shooting from a great distance. The wounded beast turned to an open area where Mr. Förster Brehmer-Weißkollm happily met her at about 30 meters. The animal fled to a nearby thicket, where it was soon found dead. "
“For 100 years now, no wolf has been shot in Lausitz in the heart of Germany, and today, or rather on February 27, 1904, such a beast, which has been proven to have existed for five years, is hunted down there. It is unforgivable that four years had to pass before one put the craft of Satan down. Thank God there is now peace and quiet, and we will soon notice the success in our wild life. "
The prepared “tiger” can be viewed today in the Hoyerswerda City Museum at Hoyerswerda Castle .
meaning
After the “Tiger von Sabrodt” was shot down, there was no free-living wolf in today's German territory for almost a century. Only in 1998 did the first wolves reside in Lusatia and have spread throughout Germany in the following two decades. Since 2020 it has also been easier to shoot wolves again.
memory
- To commemorate the event, the Sabrodt volunteer fire brigade has a wolf in its coat of arms.
- The power metal band Powerwolf released the song "Tiger of Sabrod" on their album Lupus Dei in 2007 .
literature
- Eckhard Fuhr: The return of the wolves. Riemann Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-641-14343-5 (Chapter 1: “Last Wolves”).
Web links
- Image of the resized animal in the museum (Alamy Stock Photo)
Individual evidence
- ↑ JD Sauerländer: Allgemeine Forst und Jagdzeitung , 1904.
- ↑ The Odyssey of the Lone Wolves (1/2) (43 min.). ZDF documentary from the Terra X series from April 19, 2017 (video available in the media library until April 22, 2027).
- ↑ a b Quoted from Fuhr (2014).
- ↑ Wolves can be shot more easily. In: Tagesschau (ARD) , December 19, 2019, accessed on February 20, 2020.
- ^ Website of the municipality of Elsterheide (as of 2013) ( Memento from September 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).