Report says at least 41 wolves were likely poached in the Netherlands since 2021
At least 41 wolves that disappeared from monitoring systems in the Netherlands between October 2021 and March 2026 probably fell victim to poaching. This comes from a report released Tuesday by wildlife crime researcher Pauline Verheij, who says the figure is almost certainly an underestimate, de Volkskrant reports. The Veluwe and the provinces of Drenthe and Friesland were identified as poaching hotspots.
In the report, Back in Focus – Wolf Poaching in the Netherlands, Verheij concluded that of the 259 wolves genetically identified in the country between 2015 and December 2025, 38 disappeared from monitoring data for more than six months without explanation. She wrote that such losses cannot be explained by natural mortality or migration. Therefore, “of every seven wolves confirmed in the Netherlands, at least one has most likely been illegally killed,” Verheij wrote.
Two cases had already been proven: wolves were illegally killed in Stroe in 2021 and Ughelen in 2022. Then, shortly after Verheij completed her research, police announced that a wolf found dead in April in the Twentekanaal near Deldenerbroek had not died of natural causes.
Verheij also cited three cases of possible poaching in the southern Netherlands. In the weeks before female wolf GW4097f disappeared from the Markiezaat nature reserve in December 2024, hunters with night-vision devices were reportedly seen there on several nights despite a hunting ban. No DNA traces have been found since.
Then, a witness told Verheij that a member of a local hunting association said male wolf GW1954m, known as Klaas, would “no longer be seen and lies buried somewhere” after attacking sheep near Rilland. The wolf has indeed not been seen again.
She also documented testimony concerning wolf GW1625m, which disappeared from monitoring records in July 2023 after killing 97 sheep in Groote Heide, Noord-Brabant. Local foresters told her they believed the animal had been poached.
“In all three cases, monitoring data and witness testimonies independently point in the same direction: the same animal, at the same time, in the same place — the strongest confirmation possible short of recovering a carcass,” Verheij wrote.
According to witness accounts, poachers use hunting rifles and PCP air rifles equipped with thermal imaging and night-vision technology. Foresters said such weapons are regularly seized during searches of suspected poachers and farmers. Witnesses also described animals being chased or deliberately run over with cars or quads.
Wolf carcasses are allegedly buried, sometimes with quicklime to conceal odors; dumped into manure pits; burned; or thrown into open water. “These are techniques specifically chosen to destroy biological evidence and prevent detection,” Verheij wrote.
Verheij said livestock farmers and hunters operate through overlapping networks. Farmers are driven by livestock losses, frustration with government policy, and financial pressure. Hunters, on the other hand, see wolves as competitors affecting game populations and the economic value of hunting rights.
“The coordination of the persecution through social media platforms, especially the Geen Wolf network, provides a distributed operational infrastructure that is difficult to monitor and prosecute,” Verheij wrote. Geen Wolf, part of Stichting No Wolves Benelux, distributes real-time wolf sightings through Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Verheij spent more than 25 years working with the Public Prosecution Service, police, IFAW, and other organizations focused on wildlife crime. She conducted the study with co-author Naomi Louchouarn from Humane World for Animals, which funded the work.
