Wolf prompts new shooting zone after approaching children

A wolf approached children playing in private gardens in the western Danish town of Nørre Nebel on three occasions, prompting a new zone where the animal can be shot, DR reports.

Thermal drones will also be deployed to help locate the wolf, according to a press release from the Ministry of Nature and Animal Welfare.

All three incidents took place in Nørre Nebel on 5 August within a short period. Authorities believe the same wolf was involved in each case.

“What these incidents have in common is that the wolf approached the children without being aggressive. But it did not leave, even when people shouted or clapped loudly,” Minister for Nature and Animal Welfare Christian Rabjerg Madsen said.

He described the wolf’s lack of fear of people and its apparent attempts to approach them as unacceptable.

“The Danish Nature Agency has patrolled the affected area with rifles since Thursday. The wolf must be shot as quickly as possible, which is why we are introducing these measures,” Madsen said.

The new regulation zone near Nørre Nebel extends from an existing zone near Oksbøl, where problem wolves have previously been observed. It reaches as far as Hvide Sande, about 30 kilometres north of Nørre Nebel.

“We suspect this is the same wolf that previously caused problems in Oksbøl,” Madsen said.

In the new zone, the Danish Nature Agency can target the problem wolf under the same conditions as in the Oksbøl zone. Private individuals can also apply for permission to shoot it.

There are currently 14 active permits for private landowners and the Danish Nature Agency in the Oksbøl zone.