First wolf spotted in Flemish Brabant in two centuries
For the first time in 200 years a wolf has been spotted in Flemish Brabant Province. The animal was filmed near an industrial zone in Haasrode (Oud-Heverlee) outside Leuven. The young wolf has been identified as an itinerant that has not yet established a territory of its own.
Around 1800 there was talk of an epidemic of wolves in Flemish Brabant, but in the following decades the animal became extinct in Belgium and most of western Europe. The new wolf was recorded on 30 December last year.
Welkom Wolf, a reporting site operated by nature organisation Landschap vzw, received a video showing the animal crossing an intersection in Heverlee. By 6:07 the wolf had arrived at the Haasrode Research Park before heading off for Heverlee Wood.
“This is certainly a young drifter, not an established wolf, but an itinerant” says Landschap’s Jan Loos. “Between their first and second birthday wolves leave their parents’ pack and drift across Europe in search of a territory and partner of heir own. This search took the wolf to an unexpectedly busy area”.
The news a wolf has been spotted in Flemish Brabant isn’t entirely a surprise. In December a dead deer was found in Tielt-Winge (Flemish Brabant).
“The deer had a bite to its neck, a wolf signature. The Nature and Forestry Agency is examining the DNA samples that have been collected to see if there is a connection with the Heverlee wolf” says Jan.
Landschap vzw and Welkom Wolf are happy to receive sightings of wolves across Flanders via wolven@landschapvzw.be