A wolf (Canis lupus) had been confirmed to have entered Belgium for the first time in over 100 years!
Eurasian wolves (Canis lupus lupus) used to be found in pretty much all of Europe, but like many big mammals had a huge decline in numbers when humans begun to be able to kill them efficiently. The first downfall of the wild wolf population in Europe began as early as the middle ages, and kept on going until the European agricultural revolution, which lead to the population reaching very low numbers. Some countries did put in place conservation efforts to prevent them from going extinct, but there are still extremely rare in lots of countries – such as in Belgium. As a matter of fact, Belgium has not had a wild wolf in over 100 years, but this changed just a few days ago!
An Eurasian wolf. Image by Wikimedia Commons users Mas3cf, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The wolf that has been confirmed to have entered Belgium is believed to have trekked over 500 kilometers in just 10 days, which has been possible to know because it is wearing a tracker, and have been under surveillance by scientists for some time. Right now the wolf is hanging around a town called Beringen, not too far from the German border it crossed to enter the country.
Now that a wolf has naturally entered Belgium by itself, every single continental country in Europe has had a wolf recently. This is great news for conservationists and environmentalists, but farmers in these places are not very happy about it. There are countless examples of places where the wolves have sparked debate when local farmers prefer them to be hunted, while local wildlife groups want them to stay in the area. We have a very heated debate going on in the Norwegian media at the moment because the government allowed for lots of wolves to be shot, which many groups and individuals opposed. Anyway, I won’t write too much about this, but I would expect a similar debate to take place in Belgium if the wolf were to settle down there, and potentially start a new pack (which seems very unlikely since it does not have a mate).
Image by Flickr user mrthk, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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Denmark also recently got its first wolves in a long time
A few months ago Denmark also got their first wolf pack for a very long time, and this was the first time a wolf had been in the country in over 200 years. These wolves trekked even longer than the ones who ended up in Belgium, and had a 550 kilometer long trek. The situation in Denmark is a bit different since it is a pair, which means it has a much higher chance of ending up as a breeding pack that could grow.
This was not the only time an exotic animal ended up in a new country in 2017, and Germany got their first European bison (Bison bonasus) in 250 years. This story had a very bad ending, because the animal was shot down just a few days later since no one knew what to do with it.
Thanks for reading
This is very exciting times for Belgium, and it would be really cool if the wolf was to settle down in the area (for some people at least). We have been seeing some rewilding of Europe lately, which I am personally very excited about, but many people are scared or skeptical to this. How do you feel about the rewilding of Europe? Thanks for reading!
Wow that is really cool to hear that the european wolf population is making a comeback. here in the states the wolves are making a big comeback in certain areas out west. Some people are worried about having the big bad wolf back in the neighborhood. I personally think it is cool to know that these magical creatures are still roaming around in the wild. Thanks for the post!
That's great to hear, @arqetype. There are many people who are worried about having wolves living close to them here in Europe as well, but the Eurasian subspecies of wold is not really either aggressive or dangerous, and unprovoked human attacks are very rare. Here in Norway we've had wolves for a long time now, but it's over 200 years since anyone was killed by one (and that source is even heavily disputed).
Thanks for leaving a valuable comment, @arqetype :)
Interesting.. Made me realize how little I actually know about wolves. I thought they pretty much only left their pack when dying.. Do female wolves also wander off alone occasionally?
By the way, talking of rewilding of Europe.. Have you checked out how Chernobyl turned out? There is actually a pretty impressive fauna there now. Lots of biodiversity. Of course you'll find an extra leg here and there (or perhaps a 3 headed wolf, lol), but overall the chaos appears to have synchronized itself into something that works. It's fascinating to see how nature will always have its way :-) Here is a good segment about this from Nat Geo:
Most wolves actually leave the pack at an early age. A wolf pack typically consists of a dominant, breeding pair and their offspring. At between 2 and 3 years old the offspring will leave to find a mate and start their own pack. However, there are many exceptions to this "rule", and young wolves can sometimes join other packs and stay with them, but this is more rare than fully parents+offspring packs.
Yeah, it's really cool how Chernobyl turned out! I guess this is what happens if we humans completely abandon an area for 30 years. At least it shows that animals will probably manage to keep living even if we humans end up causing our own extinction :)
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, @partywalrus!
Fascinating creatures for sure. Came across this video as well about how wolves moved the river in Yellow Stone National park, if you haven't seen it. Worth a watch :-)
It's really cool how the wolves in Yellowstone changed not only the river, but also the foliage there. It's a good textbook example of how species interact in many more ways than anyone really anticipates. Thanks for linking the video; it's much appreciated that you share your knowledge in the comment section here!
It would be great if wolves and humans can co-exist. The tension is understandable. I'm hopeful that a workable solution can be developed. It's good that the wolves have trackers; so that they do not appear in a locality completely by surprise.
Yeah, I hope we are able to co-exist as well. Trackers can be very nice to have, because the wolves generally don't attack humans, but I can understand why some people would not want them roaming close a a kindergarten or something like that.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, @acdevan!
The Netherlands also had a recent wolf visitor -> https://nltimes.nl/2017/10/20/wolf-spotted-veluwe-third-wolf-netherlands-year
Hello, @mathowl, and thanks for your comment! The wolf in this post also actually visited The Netherlands pretty shortly before going back to Germany, and then to Belgium. It might just be the same wolf ;)
wow. so the wolf also enjoy tourism:). Glad to know that Denmark are hosting wolf pair. May be they went there for honeymoon:). It will help to increase population of Wolf in Denmark.
Men required of food and residence is increasing day by day which means diminishing forest and decline in wild life. Sad news but it's a fact. We can't deny this. nice post @valth
Yeah, that is true. However, we do need to find a way to coexist, because we can't just keep killing all the animals that live in a place just because we want to expand the human race.
There is hope for humanity! :)) I find this news as well very exciting! thanks for sharing @valth
I would be okay with the rewilding of Europe, we need to protect our planet, everything has a purpose!
Yeah, there's at least some hope! I'm glad to hear that you found it exciting, @alexandraioana26. Yeah, most things on the planet has a purpose, and the wolf is an apex predator that has huge effects on its environment. A good example is how the wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the United States actually changed the vegetation and other parts of the environment when they were allowed to live there.
It is too sad. A lot of kind of animal become extinct because of humanity. Especially hunting is the biggest factor of it. People need to be conscious regarding this issue. Every living thing has the right to life!
Yeah, i agree with you, @cemke. We have hunted to many animals to extinction, and some of them have even been hunted to extinction just because it was fun for the hunters..
Migrations like this bothers me more that appeases me. I feel there's something they're running from to come to a place they've never been to.
Well, sure, that makes sense since most of Europe wants to kill them :P
Maybe they are all siberian huskies :P. you never know. haha
Very handsome and powerful animal! Wolves also have a place on earth! They are much gentler when compared with human hunters!
I agree with most of what you say, but I can't really agree that they are very gentle compared to humans. I know a lot of humans are seemingly evil, but hunters who hunt by following best practices will most often be able to kill the animal in a very painless matter. I've seen carcasses of sheep that have been killed by wolves, and that is not a very pretty sight at all; it's bloody and messy. But of course it's part of what it's like to be a predator :)
Thank you for your considered reply! I was thinking along the same line as yours. I just didn't know how to convey my idea of natural instinct is quite different from calculated or premeditated killing by humans. Gentle is not the correct word to convey the meaning of what I had in mind. Thanks for your clarification.
Cheers.
Ah, I see ;) Yeah, gentle was maybe not the best work, but I understand what you meant now. Thanks for writing valuable comments to my post, @kaminchan!
Thank you for your very considerate feedback. I must say you are a real gentleman with a lot of poise!
Thanks, that's a very nice thing to say :)