Job van der Veeken (22) had a special meeting on Sunday morning that he will never forget. When he drove from Chaam to his hometown of Gilze, he suddenly saw a wolf in the meadow, crossing in front of his car. He didn’t hesitate for a moment and gave chase. “I had to film it or no one would believe me.”
Job first thought of a German Shepherd dog when he saw the animal in the meadow. “Only that one was without an owner and was really bigger than an adult shepherd. I actually knew right away that it was a wolf.”
“I wanted to film it because otherwise no one would believe me.”
He saw the predator near eatery D’n Brooy on Chaamseweg in Gilze. The wolf ran off so fast that Job could no longer film it. “I wanted to, otherwise no one would believe me. So I went after it.”
Job drove to the Bavelseweg, but lost sight of ‘his’ wolf. Somewhat disappointed, he wanted to drive back to Gilze, until he suddenly saw the wild four-legged friend standing in the meadow. “He stood still for a moment and that gave me time to grab my phone and film.” It produced special images.
“It happened right in front of my car.”
“Just in front of my car, the wolf crossed the road and the cycle path via the ditch and then jumped over the ditch into another pasture.” The animal then rushed in the direction of Molenschot.
“He really looked at me, but I don’t think he really wanted my attention,” laughs the ‘wolf spotter’. He then quickly took off. “Within a minute he was out of sight.”
“Special to experience.”
Job didn’t find it exciting, but it was ‘nice and very special to experience’. He sends the video to his mother-in-law, who keeps sheep. She split it up Facebook to warn other livestock farmers. The message is widely shared on social media in the Gilze en Chaam region.
Through the grapevine Job knows that there is a pack of wolves about forty kilometers away in Belgium. “Maybe this one came from that pack and went off on his own.”
“It fits the season that you see this wolf like this now.”
That explanation is not surprising at all, says Glenn Lelieveld of the Wolf Reporting Center of the Mammal Association. “It fits the season, so in the winter most wolves who are then one and a half years old leave their parent pack in search of new habitat. After all, the mating season is at the end of February, so you want to be at the destination.”
Lelieveld confirms Job’s suspicion that it is a wolf. “It looks like a wolf in terms of behavior and appearance, but DNA research can ultimately provide a definite answer. For example, when a turd of this animal or a cadaver of a deer is found in the area.”
Watch the images of the wolf here:
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