Special to Lehigh Valley Source
Eilon, Hello friends
On the eve of the New Year it is often hard to dispel the excitement.
The harvest continues for our work-hardy crew, anticipating the conclusion of the Ramadan feast and the advent of the Eid al-Fitr festivities. Clouds have become more prominent, summoned by the most recent updates at the meteorological service. Yes, it is hard to believe, and we are almost stunned to learn that the national weather bureau is predicting an unusually wet winter with 20-30 percent above the annual average precipitation, an almost stunning prediction considering the dusty pretext in which it is given.
In Eilon efforts have been underway to pressure the authorities to restore the spring in the gorge. Banners to that effect to preserve the historical status of Wadi Karkara [Nahal Bezet] are pinioned onto the perimeter fence or slung against the entrance to Eilon. I don't know if there is much to be done about it, except that the impact on the spring has skirted with disaster, threatening it with becoming just another dry gulch. For a few years water has been channeled from the bluffs above Irbin in plastic piping, whose diameter was widened. This water took the circuitous route having been pumped up the hillside from the Ein Ziv aquifer to provide just enough water to perpetuate the vegetation, including the majestic plane trees, that grow along the stream's banks.
According to Aviv the hunter, the spread of classic swine fever, [unrelated to the swine flu pandemic] has devastated the boar population, and on various hunting expeditions, few if any boar, where once there was an over abundant presence, are seen. Recreational hunting was halted in our region, and this hunting ban extended further south than its original jurisdiction. In mid-summer the ban was lifted, arguments ensued with the various authorities and Aviv believes the ban will be reinstated. You would not know this judging by the damage caused to our fence in our Ya'ara section of avocados, where each night the boars probe the perimeter for an easier way into this orchard. The fence, dilapidated as it already is, awaits repair from the colorful tandem of Abu Fuad and his son Mouad from Daliat al-Karmel. Until then, I erect barriers consisting of wooden pallets which the boars uneasily overcome in their search for other "soft spots" to penetrate. Perhaps the more exciting news, whose consequences have not been assessed, are the steady sightings of a pack of wolves, at least three of them, in the Nahal Namir [Wadi Nimr] gorge. Aviv tells me that the wolves have been seen by a shepherdess from Aramshe and by Israeli tourists visiting the region. Photographs were taken including one that well-illustrated the wolves prey. [see below]
On the advent of the New Year the weatherman has been predicting a series of light showers and an early thunderstorm,. We should be so lucky, but David is almost wagering that we might still suspend the irrigation session for at least one day of the holiday. The Islamic month of diurnal fasting converges with the sighting of the new moon.
Everyone, feasts and we are assured, begins the new year sated. Love-Barry
According to Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority [INPPA estimates], there are about 400 wolves in Israel. More than 100 live in the Golan Heights, which has one of the highest ratios of wolves per square kilometer in the world. The southern Arava is home to a few more packs, as is the eastern Galilee and Mount Gilboa. This is considered an achievement; wolves have been completely destroyed in neighboring countries, while their population has rejuvenated in Israel, where they are a protected species.
Alon Reichman [carnivore ecologist] said wolves are very intelligent and strong, with far more developed instincts than dogs. Their average weight, 35 kilograms, is about half that of their counterparts in North America; they are also smaller than the Northern European wolves that feature in some of the Grimms' fairy tales.
Reichman said the Israeli wolf posed no risk to humans. However, it is a continual threat to cattle and sheep farmers. In nature, wolves prey on wild boars, gazelles and other animals. But when they penetrate agricultural areas, a pack of wolves can kill a calf, he said, while a lone adult wolf can easily take a defenseless sheep. In the Golan Heights, several cases of calf deaths in recent years have been chalked up to wolf predation.
The INPPA's policy is to cull wolves in sheep- and cattle-raising areas, out of concern that farmers will implement their own policies of control, including poisonings that might harm other wild species. In 2003, in the Golan Heights alone, cattle farmers and INPPA rangers culled 45 wolves, estimated at one-third to one-half the total population. Seven other wolves that penetrated communities and preyed on animals were shot in other areas of the north. [from a report in Haaretz January 15, 2006]
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