Authorities shoot problem wolf in western Jutland

A wolf classified by Danish authorities as a problem wolf was shot near Houstrup in western Jutland on Thursday, DR reports. The animal was killed about 10 metres away, giving authorities a high degree of certainty that it was the wolf that had repeatedly approached people in the area.

The shooting took place within a control zone west of Nørre Nebel. The zone was established and expanded after several incidents involving the wolf’s approaching behaviour.

“When a wolf displays problematic behaviour and has lost its wariness towards people, it must be shot,” Minister for Nature and Animal Welfare Christian Rabjerg Madsen of the Social Democrats said in a statement.

The wolf was seen near a restaurant in Lønne, close to Nørre Nebel, on Monday before appearing again on Wednesday evening.

A week-long search

The Danish Nature Agency had been operating in the area since 6 August with staff and thermal drones. Experts from Aarhus University examined images and video of the wolf and assessed that it was the same animal that had displayed approaching behaviour earlier this year in the control zone near Oksbøl.

“The safety of residents comes first, and I am pleased that people in Nørre Nebel can now move around safely again without fear of the problem wolf,” Madsen said.

When is a wolf a problem wolf?

The Agency for Green Land Transformation and Water Environment lists several conditions that must be met before a so-called problem wolf can be shot. They include wolves that lack an instinctive wariness of people, enter urban areas despite attempts to drive them away, prey on livestock or attack livestock despite relevant and reasonable preventive measures, attack dogs, or pose a danger to human safety.

The agency assesses each case together with the Danish Nature Agency’s wolf consultant and decides whether the animal is a problem wolf and whether it needs to be shot.

Madsen also thanked the Danish Nature Agency and the many people who reported sightings of the wolf.

Minister wants to discuss wolf rules with EU

On Wednesday, Madsen said he wanted to discuss the current European Union rules on wolf management, arguing that they were created at a time when the wolf population was smaller.

His comments followed an incident in northern Jutland, where a wolf approached a runner at Bunken Klitplantage a week earlier. Experts did not classify that animal as a problem wolf.

Peter Sunde, a professor at Aarhus University’s Department of Ecoscience, said on Thursday that “problem wolf” was a political rather than a scientific definition. He warned that changing the rules so the northern Jutland wolf could be shot could make it possible to shoot any wolf that experts considered to be behaving normally.

Experts said the incident at Bunken Klitplantage was within what could be expected from a wolf protecting its cub.