The police have started an investigation into the death of a wolf near Heerde in Gelderland, on the edge of the Veluwe. The animal was found west of the A50 highway last Wednesday. Police say it was an unnatural death.
By Lennart ‘t HartA passer-by spotted the dead wolf near Heerde. BIJ12, the agency that handles wolf cases for the provinces, initially reported on Tuesday that the wolf had died in traffic. BIJ12 is now also taking other scenarios into account, a spokesperson told NU.nl.
An examination of the carcass revealed that the animal had died an unnatural death. Then the police were called. The latter does not just happen. This may indicate that there are indications of a crime.
The police do not want to say more to NU.nl than that they are investigating an “unnatural death” of the animal. Killing a wolf is punishable because the animal is protected in many ways at the European level.
Previously shot wolf found near Stroe
It is a young male wolf of around 35 kilos. DNA tests have yet to prove which wolf is involved. It could be a stray wolf that was temporarily in the Netherlands, but also a descendant of the wolf pairs that settled in the Netherlands.
It has so far happened ten times that a wolf has been hit in traffic in the Netherlands. In at least one case, someone deliberately killed a wolf. It is about the wolf that was shot dead near Stroe last year. Furthermore, at the beginning of this year, a dead wolf was found “under suspicious circumstances” in the forests of Ugchelen. Both investigations are ongoing and no arrests have yet been made.
Meanwhile, in the investigation into the dead wolf near Heerde, the police are looking for witnesses who saw something hit on September 20 or 21 in the vicinity of the west side of the A50 near Gelderseplaats.
