Video: First clear look at Veluwe wolf cubs

Wildlife filmmaker Patrick van Es managed to get the first clear footage of three wolf cubs born in the Veluwe earlier this year. He recorded the cubs last week and posted the footage on Facebook. "We traveled to Yellowstone in the United States multiple times to see wolves in the wild. To be able to admire these animals in our own country now is simply fantastic", he said with the post.

Wolf expert Glen Lelieveld of Wolven in Nederland confirmed to Omroep Gelderland that the young wolves in the video are indeed the cubs born in the Veluwe a few months ago. "They grow incredibly fast", he said to the broadcaster. "The wolf cubs are already going with their parents to learn how to hunt and within a ew months they will be able to do this independently."

The cubs will stay with their parents for quite a while yet, Lelieveld added. "They will stay with the pack for about two years to refine their hunting skills." If the parents have new cubs next year, these young wolves will hunt to help feed the pack.

According to Wolven in Nederland, the cubs were probably born in April and are the first recorded wolf cub births in the Benelux area in about 200 years. They were first spotted in June. There are at least three young wolves in the Veluwe, but there are indications that there may be as many as five. Three adult wolves, including the cubs' parents, also live in the area. 

The area where the wolves were filmed was not disclosed, to stop people from going to look for them.