Wolf Bram, or Wolf GW3237M, may be shot. But how do you do that and what are the rules?

There are two wolves on the death list. Whether they are killed is the question. They are difficult to find.

The first is a wolf about which a discussion has been raging in Gelderland for years, the animal, according to its genetic code as Wolf GW4655M and now nicknamed ‘Hubertus de Martelaar’, was the subject of a series of long -term lawsuits about whether the province was allowed to disrupt the Wolf with a Paintball gun after he had not shy. In the end, shooting with paint did not happen. Until the beginning of this year a woman was bitten in her left hip while running, and the province eventually, again after a judicial decision, was given permission to kill the ‘problem wolf’. But GW4655M is lost. “De Wolf has no longer been signaled on Gelders territory,” said a spokesperson for the province. The fauna management unit, the organization to which the shooting of the wolf has been entrusted, has not received him in sight. The smartest thing the wolf can do is cross the border to another province. “Because our authority stops there,” said the Gelderland spokesperson.

Unpredictable behavior

The other wolf is Bram. Or Wolf GW3237M. This lives in the province of Utrecht and has made visitors to it several times – as well as many columnists in motion. What’s hot: More than a year ago the animal injured a girl on the Den Treek estate near Leusden light; Elsewhere on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, a child was also slightly injured; In May this year, a woman was also bitten in her thigh; And this week a boy was shocked, bitten and dragged in the pyramid of Austerlitz, perhaps also by Bram.

Bram is now in the toughest category, H, which reads: “Wolf responds aggressively to people without provocation; Wolf kills people”

In any case, the bite incident in May on the Treek was sufficient reason for the province of Utrecht to issue a permit for killing this ‘problem wolf’, which has since become irrevocable since a judicial ruling from last week. The reason for granting the slot permit to the Fauna Management Unit Utrecht is that the animal is ‘dangerous’. That is, the wolf shows “unpredictable and risky behavior towards people,” the province writes in an explanation of the permit under the authority of an agency, Econatura, which has investigated the bite incidents. “The threat to public safety can no longer be considered negligible at this stage.” According to the intervention directive from the Administrative Wolvenplan 2025, Bram now falls into the toughest category, H, which reads: “Wolf responds aggressively to people without provocation; Wolf kills people.” The mammal association also advised a wolf at the end of May to “remove from the population as quickly as possible” provided that it could be designated as bijter. That happened recently.

Only shoot in daylight

Shooting a wolf, however, is no easy task, and is bound by many conditions within the provincial permits. In the case of Bram from Utrecht, for example, the operation will have to be carried out “out of sight of the public” by two or three people specifically designated for this purpose “. In order to ‘carefully identify’, partly on the basis of well -known external characteristics, this team will be in daylight between ‘one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset’. The shooters will approach the animal ‘not visibly and audibly’ and may use ‘no feed or lures’. The animal will then be ‘removed’ with a bullet gun. When applying for the permit, the Fauna Management Unit Utrecht already announced what type of rifle will be used exactly: “A bullet rifle with at least a drawn run and bullet patterns of a caliber of at least 6.5 millimeters whose trefenergie is at least 2,200 joule at 100 meters away”. If possible, according to the application, “additional use will be made of a silencer.”

Voilà. Incidentally, according to the provinces, shooting the wolves is not a threat to the continued existence of the population. For example, the province of Utrecht has been advised by experts. “It follows that both the chance of survival of the cubs and the cohesion within the pack can be maintained after issuing this environmental permit, despite the loss of a parent animal.”

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