Former Member of Parliament Johan Moes experienced it up close. “Just before seven o’clock I got a call from a close acquaintance. He said, ‘I’ve got the wolf back here on my property. He’s after my sheep. If you want to see the wolf, come over’. When I got here the whole family panicked. His wife shouted, “He has been grabbed by the wolf!” The owner was bitten on the arm. I then called a hunter and the mayor. The wolf couldn’t get out. It still shakes me.”
The sheep farmer was chasing the wolf with a pitchfork and a shovel, calling loudly. The wolf was chasing the sheep at first, but then turned towards the sheep farmer. He and his wife retreated behind the fence. The wolf then jumped to the top of the fence at over four feet and bit the man on the arm. His tendons are damaged. The man went to hospital.
The sheep were behind a seven-wire wolf-resistant grid. According to Moes, there are traces that the wolf went underneath. “He couldn’t get out anymore. The sheep farmer has solar panels in the back of the garden and the wolf was so stunned by the blow that he took shelter there.”
Mayor Rikus Jager ordered the animal killed after consultation with experts. At 9:00 a shot was fired. “It is the first time in the Netherlands that a wolf attacks a human. It is so serious that the person has gone to the hospital. Everyone is very shocked. The children are very impressed. I am convinced that people are still carries for years.”
The mayor heard about it at 8:00 am. “We had to make a decision: can you let such a wolf run free or not, or is the risk too great that it will happen again? It was clear to me that this wolf is too focused on people. The advice was unanimous. “
What now? “I cannot say much about that. I would also very much like to hear the victim’s lecture,” said the mayor.
Jager said he had hoped not to be the first mayor in the Netherlands to make this decision. He takes into account that it will get a legal tail.