Father tells story after wolf incident in Leusden: ‘everyone was in shock’

The father of the girl who was injured in a conflict with a wolf on the Den Treek estate near Leusden has told her story for the first time. In retrospect at RTV Utrechttogether with the director of care outside the school, he says that the event is “surreal”.

Matthijs, the father, received a call from the Vrijland Amersfoort after-school care center on July 16; his 5-year-old daughter was reportedly bitten by a wolf and he had to pick her up as soon as possible.

That morning, 36 children and several supervisors hid apples in the grass for a treasure hunt. One of the rusty directors heard, says director of care outside the school Laurens Zaalberg: “In a vision she saw the wolf. The girl was robbed and attacked. Despite the situation low, it was very fast. The girl was bitten on her right side, and then she fell on her left hand.”

The supervisor screamed loudly, and after that, according to her, the wolf released the girl, says the director of care outside the school. “The wolf walked away and stood about ten meters away, looked back and left. Several workers saw the last one.” The out-of-school care management immediately removed all the children from the site. In the meantime, they tried to keep the peace.

The 5-year-old girl appeared to be injured in her side. Her parents were notified immediately. Father Matthijs says he was surprised when he received a call from the shelter. “Everybody was in shock. That’s not surprising, really.”

He called the doctor immediately, he says. He was surprised too. “It took some time to find the medical protocol. So the family doctor also called the RIVM for advice. You realize that this is the first time something like this has happened here.”

The girl’s injuries:

On the same day, a detective called the parents. In the evening two police officers came by for questioning. They questioned the parents and took clothes the girl was wearing for DNA analysis. There were holes in the clothes, said Matthijs’ father. DNA research confirmed a few weeks later that it was a wolf.

The girl is doing much better now, her father says. After what happened, she was afraid to go to the forest or the shelter for a while. She also had trouble sleeping. Her parents told Victims Support: “He needs to get used to it again, but he’s going in the right direction.”

The girl’s father and the director of after-school care are convinced that the girl was bitten. Several wolf experts oppose this based on the injury. Wolf canines are round, so the bite should be round too, they reason.

For example, the scratches could be because the girl fell. RTV Utrecht had a psychologist look at the photos of the injuries. This supports the conclusion of wolf experts.

Two other professionals who spoke to the regional broadcaster say that it cannot be denied that it is a bite. For example, the wolf could intend to bite, but did not complete the action.

After the incident, the province asked people to avoid the area, but this was not sufficiently complied with. A few days later the city of Leusden issued one emergency order off. This said the property owner was no longer allowed to open the area.

The estate will open from next Monday, a city spokesperson reports.