Provinces and municipalities must be able to shoot a ‘problem wolf’ sooner and the animal must become shyer again in the Netherlands. State Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature Silvio Erkens (VVD) announced new rules on Friday after the Council of Ministers, which should prevent “incidents between wolves, people, their pets and livestock”.
To “keep wolves shy,” Erkens writes a letter to the House of Representativesit should become easier to chase or disturb the animal. The wolf has been given a lower protection status in Europe, which means that this can now be done without a permit.
Furthermore, the concept of ‘problem wolf’ has been redefined. According to the government, this is a wolf that reacts aggressively to people or attacks them without being disturbed, or a wolf that has been spotted at least twice in a two-week period on a schoolyard or playground.
In an interview with the A.D Erkens says that provinces should have more resources available to chase away the animal, such as a paintball gun or “rubber bullets”. According to him, it should also become easier to kill a ‘problem wolf’ if, for example, an attack has taken place on a human. “That still takes far too long,” says Erkens. In the letter to Parliament he writes that a permit must be granted in advance to the “competent authority” to kill a wolf.
Only in ‘the most serious situations’
Erkens’ measures are an adjustment of the proposal of his predecessor, State Secretary Jean Rummenie (BBB), which the Council of State received in September 2025. advised against. The definition of ‘problem wolf’ was still considered too broad at the time. “The circumstances mentioned in the draft decision that may give rise to the capture or killing of a wolf vary greatly in nature and severity,” the Council wrote. And killing a wolf should only be possible in “the most serious situations.”
It now remains to be seen whether the Council of State finds Erkens’ measures clearer. The State Secretary wants to have the proposal tested again and hopes to have it come into effect before the summer.
Responsible deputies from the provinces of Gelderland and Drenthe responded enthusiastically to the measures to the ANP news agency. “We are pleased with the drive of the new State Secretary,” says Harold Zoet (Gelderland, BBB), because municipalities and provinces will be given “more powers”. Henk Emmens (Drenthe, BBB) thinks the measures are a “good step forward”.
Nature organizations have not yet responded to Erkens’ plan on Friday evening, but have been critical in the past about the proposals to simplify the shooting of wolves. Last summer, the Fauna Protection organization legally challenged the decision to have wolf Bram killed, but without success.
Researchers from Wageningen University concluded in September that there is much more room for wolf families in the Netherlands. There are now about thirteen to fourteen of them living in the Netherlands, the researchers see room for a maximum of fifty packs.
