Naya, born in Germany, was the first wolf to be seen in Belgium in a century. Environmental groups have blamed hunters for her disappearance, and are offering a €30,000 award for information about her presumed death.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/BELGA/AGENTSCHAP NATUUR EN BOS
Advertisement
Several environmental groups have offered a €30,000 ($33,000) reward for information over the presumed death of a wolf in Belgium.
The wolf, named Naya, was born in Germany but became the first to be spotted in Belgium in 100 years. She was first sighted in the Belgian province of Limbourg in January 2018 and was subsequently fitted with a tagged collar to track her movements.
However, neither Naya nor the cubs she was carrying have been seen since May 2019, when they were detected by a night-vision camera operated by the regional nature agency ANB. The batteries in her electronic collar have since stopped working.
Three private environmental groups — Bird Protection Flanders, Animal Rights and the Nature Aid Center — initially offered €20,000 for information to help identify the suspected killers.
Bird Protection Flanders later announced that an unnamed Belgian businessman had contributed an additional €10,000.
The return of the wolves to Germany
04:04
This browser does not support the video element.
Hunters to blame: environmentalists
According to Belgian media, environmental groups have blamed hunters for Naya's disappearance.
"Everything shows that the public no longer accepts that some people give themselves the right to decide which animals are allowed to live," the groups wrote in a statement.
In an interview with local media, a Flemish hunters' association said the accusations were "scandalous." It said it may file a lawsuit for defamation against two Belgian conservation groups.
Three other wolves have been sighted since Naya's arrival, wandering in and out of Belgium's wooded areas on the Dutch and German borders, according to ANB.
The wolf in myths and fairy tales
In mythology and fairy tales, wolves are usually depicted as the bad guys: mean, crafty and out to kill. An exhibition at the Cologne Wallraf Richartz Museum presents the wolf in art.
Image: Burg Wissem, Bilderbuchmuseum der Stadt Troisdorf
Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
Wolves have returned to Germany. And they polarize society: Some people would rather shoot them, others want to keep them safe at any cost. How we see wolves is influenced by literature and art — where the "big bad wolf" has frightened people for many centuries.
The wolf in the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" outsmarts the red hooded girl on her way to visit her sick grandma. The animal sends her to pick flowers so it can run ahead, devour the grandmother and lie in wait for the unsuspecting girl in the woman's bed. When the child finally reaches grandma's house, she is surprised by the old lady's looks, but doesn't make the obvious connection.
Grandma might seem odd to the girl, but she doesn't have much time to think about it, because the wolf devours her, too. Luckily, a hunter is nearby. He cuts open the sleeping wolf's belly, and both grandma and the little girl jump out, safe and sound. The wolf is stuffed with heavy stones, wakes up, collapses and dies.
Image: Burg Wissem, Bilderbuchmuseum der Stadt Troisdorf
The wolf always dies in the end
Johann Wolfgang Goethe's epic poem "Reynard the Fox" also ends with the wolf's death. The tale goes back to a medieval fable. Reynard the fox manages to defeat all of his animal foes, even the wolf Isegrim, who is actually stronger. As a result, the clever fox is appointed chancellor of the animal kingdom by the lion king.
Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses" inspired numerous artists. The above 1589 copperplate engraving "Zeus Turning Lycaon into a Wolf" is from the workshop of Hendrick Goltzius. In Greek mythology, Lycaon drew Zeus' ire because he served him human flesh to test him. Zeus, king of the gods, turned him into a wolf in return, arguing that the transformation would allow Lycaon to indulge in his lust to kill.
"The Wolf Hunt" by Willem van der Leeuw is another example of a popular copperplate engraving, a copy of a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish painter who masterfully depicted motion in his works. In the Baroque era, such reproductions sold well and were made in large numbers. They also served as a form of advertisement for the artist and his workshop.
The exhibition displays more than 30 artworks showing wolves. The images from 16th through the 19th centuries generally portray wolves as aggressive and out for blood, establishing the grim image we still have of wolves today. That fear is unfounded, as wolves are hardly dangerous to people. There hasn't been a single attack on humans in the almost 20 years since wolves resettled in Germany.
Rome's foundation myth includes not a big bad wolf, but a good-natured one — the she-wolf that rescued and nursed the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus. In another version of the story, the term "lupa," or wolf, does not refer to a she-wolf at all: it's rather the slang word for prostitute.
