Young wolf killed in Belgian Hechtel, near the Dutch border | Animals

The crumbling wolf may be one of nine cubs born in that province this year. Whether this is indeed the case requires further research.

The Flemish Institute for Nature and Forest Research (INBO) is conducting research on the corpse. “It could very well be that the animal was already exploring new horizons, but was not yet used to traffic and was run over by it,” INBO’s Koen Van Muylem tells the Belgian news site. HNL extension.

Van Muylem says he has genetic material from the pups, so researchers can better see which wolf exactly it is. An autopsy on the body will follow at the end of the week.

It’s not the first time a wolf has been shot in Belgium. In October 2020 a young she-wolf was killed on the same road, the North-South link. “Actually, we’re surprised it took so long for another collision with a wolf to occur,” says Van Muylem.

Earlier this year, a wolf drowned in the Albert Canal in Hasselt, Belgium. Just a month later, a lorry driver narrowly avoided a wolf in Houthalen-Helchteren.