According to Schuinder, the incident in Ruinen emphasizes the importance of reporting wolves. “I would really like to urge people to report it if they see a wolf. For us as a province, but also as a municipality, we need to know what is happening in the entire population in the province,” Schuinder explains. “And we are also looking for a problem wolf, which we recently gave it that classification. Because in principle these animals should be shy.”
That ‘problem wolf’ is wolf GW4890m, the animal that repeatedly attacked sheep behind approved fences. The province wants to shoot the animal.
The province has no indications that the spotted wolf near the school is the ‘problem wolf’ or would be dangerous to people. Schuinder: “Any wolf that comes into close proximity to people may in principle be a non-shy wolf. And a non-shy wolf does not necessarily mean that it is a problem wolf, but it does mean that it will gradually get used to human contact. That is not what a wolf should do.”
The province of Drenthe has been advocating for some time that Dutch legislation and regulations be adapted to the protection status within the European Union. Which has been adjusted since May last year. The status went from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’. Even with the ‘protected’ status, conditions remain before a wolf can be handled.