Wolves, prey animals and people are equipped with a transmitter in De Hoge Veluwe National Park.

The debate about the wolf is “completely polarized,” notes Jakob Leidekker, head of business operations at De Hoge Veluwe. And so, he tells a group of journalists between the trees in Otterlo, researchers in the national park adhere to a strict protocol. “We know we are under a magnifying glass.”

The protocol concerns a study into the interaction between wolves, their prey animals red deer, boar and roe, and humans. To this end, five wolves will be equipped with a collar transmitter in the coming year, as well as thirty prey animals, and visitors and employees of the park who want this will also receive a tracker. This so that researchers from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) can map out how users of De Hoge Veluwe relate to each other, whether they respond to each other, and also: whether wolves adapt their behavior to the presence of people.

“We view the park as one living lab“, says Frank van Langevelde, professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at Wageningen University. “The Hoge Veluwe is an area where we already know a lot about the animals, and where many people come. A lot is known about wolves and their prey in large nature reserves, such as Yellowstone in the United States. But how the interaction between people, wolves and prey in a densely populated landscape like here is unknown. decisions are made, they are often based on assumptions.”

The benefit is considered higher than the inconvenience for animals.

Stun shot

At the end of last week, around midnight, after many failed attempts at the beginning of this year, researchers managed to sedate a wolf and fit it with a collar transmitter. The first of five. Leidekker: “A wolf is terribly smart. You have to be out of the wind and be hidden.” Shooting only takes place outside the period when the young are being born and they are being cared for. Leidekker: “We have been quiet for three months.”

It is the first time that a wolf has been tagged in the Netherlands. The striking, anesthetic shot was fired by a veterinarian, assisted by game wardens from De Hoge Veluwe. Leidekker: “We were on site within fifteen minutes. As soon as the vet shoots, a phone call goes out to people from the park and from the university, who also sleep here, in bad places by the way.” There was “no stress,” says Leidekker: “Everyone worked calmly. It was as if we had been doing this for years.” Half an hour after anesthesia, the wolf, an adult male, was awake again. A moving wolf can be tracked accurately, thanks to the transmitter that emits a signal every five minutes. When the wolf sleeps, that signal is once an hour. It is not yet known what the wolf has been up to in recent days.

A delicate point is the ethical question of whether this research should be done to the wolf. Numerous lawsuits have been filed in recent years about, for example, the question of whether a wolf can be chased away with a paintball gun. But, says Professor Van Langevelde: “We have the necessary permits.” The university has a permit for scientific research. “And this falls under that.” Moreover, the research does not conflict with the Animal Testing Act, as became apparent after an assessment by the Animal Welfare Authority, which also obtained advice from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Central Committee on Animal Testing. Van Langevelde: “The benefit is considered higher than the inconvenience for animals.”

Snack bar

As a scientist, Van Langevelde is interested in “fundamental” questions about the behavior of wolves and prey animals. “How does the presence of people determine the behavior of wolves and their prey? What is their behavior at night, when there are no people in the park? Why do they perhaps leave the park, which is a kind of snack bar for them?” Fortunately for impatient politicians and the heated society, the professor also wants to do “applied research”, curious if he is curious about, for example, the following: “Imagine that we measure that a wolf is close to a cycle path and that cyclists are constantly passing by. Can that wolf then get used to people, become less afraid of it, and could that be the cause of the incidents we have seen recently?”

Interesting questions, in a debate in which, for example, opponents of the wolf argue that the Netherlands is too small or too densely populated for such an animal. Wageningen University & Research is paying for the research itself, with a contribution from De Hoge Veluwe for the transmitters and manpower. The scientists want to follow the animals “at least” for about a year. And, oh yes, says researcher Frank van Langevelde: “The collars fall off automatically after one and a half to two years.”

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