Experts reject claims Danish wolf video is fake

Two experts consulted by DR News and Denmark’s National Wolf Monitoring reject claims that a video of a wolf approaching a runner is fake or AI generated.

The video, filmed at Bunken Klitplantage, a dune plantation in northern Jutland, shows a wolf coming close to a runner and baring its teeth. It has intensified Denmark’s already heated debate over wolves and attracted attention from several international wolf personalities.

Among them is British animal activist Anneka Svenska, who describes herself as “The Wolfgirl”. The former actor and television presenter has 2.5 million social media followers, while almost 1.5 million people subscribe to her YouTube channel, Animal Watch.

In two lengthy social media posts, Svenska questioned whether the Danish footage was genuine or had been created using artificial intelligence. She referred to German wolf expert Tanja Askani, whom she said had closely examined the wolf’s teeth in several parts of the video.

Svenska also suggested that Danish farmers had fed wolves to make them accustomed to people, allegedly so they could later claim that the wolves were aggressive when approaching humans. She said she had found that information on Reddit.

One of her posts claimed that the runner who filmed the wolf had approached it three times to attract likes on social media. The post included an image carrying the headline: “Wild wolf filmed in fake lunge at runner in Denmark. The truth?”

Experts say video appears genuine

DR News asked two experts to assess the video’s authenticity.

“My conclusion is that the video is genuine with a very high probability,” said J. Andreas Bærentzen of the Technical University of Denmark. “If it turns out to have been generated by AI, it was done with extraordinary skill by an expert who deliberately tried to deceive those watching the video.”

Aske Mottelson of IT University of Copenhagen said it was extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible, to determine whether a video was fake or genuine without decisive evidence such as perspective errors, unnatural gravity, video artefacts or physical defects.

“That said, I overwhelmingly think that this wolf video looks genuine,” Mottelson said. Although highly realistic fake videos can be made today, he said it was difficult with currently available commercial tools to produce a video that looked as genuine as the wolf footage.

Svenska’s posts have nevertheless reached several Danish users. Comments include people rejecting her claims, while others support them. One user wrote that there was “a whole lobby that wants the wolf eradicated in Denmark” and would not be surprised if its members did everything they could to get rid of it.

Another commenter claimed that people were trying to obtain permission to build a wolf fence to Germany. Most Danish commenters focused instead on what they considered suspicious behaviour by the runner.

Askani says she never claimed the video was AI generated

Svenska has not responded to DR’s request for an interview. Askani, the wolf expert Svenska cited, has also rejected the suggestion that she claimed the Danish video was AI generated.

Askani, who was born in the Czech Republic, now looks after the wolf population at Wildpark Lüneburger Heide, a wildlife reserve in Germany. She may also be known to German viewers from the documentary Wolf, Bär and Co., which followed life at the reserve through the 2000s.

In a written response, Askani acknowledged that the video is in fact genuine. She said she had only expressed doubt and had not claimed that it was AI generated.

“I have never claimed that the video was AI generated, nor did I intend to spread such a claim,” Askani wrote.

She did, however, agree with the theory that the Danish runner behaved suspiciously during the incident.

“The man’s behaviour and the entire situation are highly unusual,” Askani wrote.