Fewer wolves have been reported for the first time in years. In the first quarter of this year, 255 reports were received; last year there were 385 in the same period. This is evident from figures from Bij12, which maps the wolf population for provinces.
There is not actually a wolf behind every report. Of the 255 reports so far, it could be confirmed in 112 cases that it was actually a wolf. Three reports turned out not to be a wolf; the rest is still under investigation. By this time last year, it was already clear in almost four hundred cases that people had actually seen a wolf.
Bij12 also keeps track of how often an incident involving a wolf is reported. Last year that was 1,079 times; Nu.nl, which has made its own analysis of Bij12’s figures, comes out slightly higher, at 1,112. This may include cases where it is not certain whether the wolf caused the damage or, for example, a dog.
Nu.nl’s analysis shows that no protective measures, such as wolf-resistant fences, had been taken in the vast majority of incidents. Or these were not carried out properly, allowing the wolf to get to the animals. The most incidents were counted in the area around Putten on the Veluwe: 133. In eight cases, attacked animals were behind a sufficiently protective fence.
“That does not matter for the compensation,” said Meije Gildemacher, spokesperson for Bij12, this morning. NRC. “Bij12, which settles the damage on behalf of provinces, always carries out an inspection, but preventive measures are not a condition for compensation.” Animal keepers will receive these as soon as Bij12 has determined that a wolf was involved.
More deer and boar
The fact that the number of wolf reports has decreased does not necessarily mean that there are fewer wolves in the Netherlands. Better protection against attacks can also result in fewer notifications. Another possible explanation is that there were more acorns and beechnuts available for deer and boar last year, which meant that their populations were also larger, ecologist Hugh Jansman of Wageningen University told ANP. “If there is enough food available for the wolf in the wild, it is less likely to move to farm animals.”
Wolves living in the Netherlands mainly eat wild boar, roe deer and red deer, according to research by the universities of Leiden and Antwerp where NRC wrote about earlier. The proportion of ‘mutton’ in the wolf’s diet varies by region, but is generally low. “In the Veluwe wolf territories this amounts to 5 percent of the diet, in Drenthe it amounts to 10 percent,” said Kevin Groen, one of the researchers from Leiden University.
It may also be that the decrease in the number of wolf reports gives a distorted picture, because people report less often when they think they have seen a wolf. And wolves are still afraid of people, even now that they come into contact with each other more often.
Wolves that have seen humans at a young age are slightly less shy, but wolves have learned over the centuries that humans are their enemy. Ecologist Jansman said earlier NRC: “In their eyes we are still the top dog. And every animal species would always rather miss a meal than be a meal.”
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