Father, childminders insist wolf bit girl, 5, in Leusden last month
Father Matthijs is convinced that a wolf bit his 5-year-old daughter at the Den Treek estate in Leusden on July 16. The after school care center that was watching the child when it happened agrees. To their surprise, experts disagree.
“You get a real fright, but it is also surreal,” father Matthijs told RTV Utrecht about the phone call he got from childcare saying his daughter had been attacked by a wolf. “My daughter was hiding an apple for a treasure hunt. She was attacked diagonally from behind in a flash. She fell and didn’t see the wolf herself. When she opened her eyes, he was already gone.”
A childminder saw what happened, as did another child, though from a distance, director Laurens Zaalberg of after-school care Vrijland Amersfoort told the broadcaster. They said the wolf bit the girl. “Our employee was standing right next to her and could almost touch her.”
The girl and minder were in knee-high grass, Zaalberg said. “Suddenly, the minder heard rustling. In a flash, she saw the wolf. The girl was stalked and attacked. Despite the low stalking position, it was super fast. The girl was bitten briefly on her right side, after which she fell to the left. The minder screamed loudly, after which the wolf let go. The wolf walked away, stopped about ten meters further, looked back briefly, and left. Several employees saw this last.”
Father Matthijs picked up his daughter and took her to the family doctor. “He was just as surprised as I was. It took some time to find the medical protocol. That’s why the family doctor also called the RIVM for advice. You can tell this is the first time something like this has happened here.”
The doctor treated the injury as a bite from a canine, Matthijs told RTV Utrecht. “The family doctor said that this was a minor injury compared to a serious dog bite. The skin and tendons can be hanging off, but that is not the case now. So she was lucky. Cleaning and a course of antibiotics were enough.” He suspects that the incident was accompanied by some force. “Later, my daughter had bruises and yellow spots.”
Wolf experts Glenn Lelieveld and Dick Klees, who advise the province of Utrecht on behalf of the Mammal Society, maintain that the wolf did not bite the girl. They based their opinions on police photos and the first witness statements. “We have seen the police photos, and there is no way we see a bite in them,” Lelieveld told the broadcaster. A wolf’s canine teeth are round, so the injury should be round. “If a wolf bites someone in the side, a canine tooth can never be near the navel.” Photos taken by the girl’s family did not change their minds.
RTV Utrecht also showed the family’s photos to pathologist Frank van de Groot. He agrees with the wolf experts. “I really don’t see a bite from a canine in this.” According to the pathologist, if the girl had been bitten on the side, there should also be teeth injuries on her back.
The question of whether or not the wolf bit the girl is important for the next steps. Wolves are a protected species and can only be captured or killed in exceptional circumstances. A wolf that is aggressive towards people repeatedly and without provocation can be shot.
The wolf experts don’t argue that the girl sustained the injuries during her contact with the wolf, but it was not a bite. She might have been injured when she fell. "But we will never know exactly what happened," says Lelieveld. "We don't want to trivialize it. It was a serious incident. The first step is to put on transmitters and keep an eye on the wolf. If the wolf still shows very problematic behavior, it can still be shot."
