A man says he was bitten on the hand by a wolf while fixing a fence at a cemetery in northern Germany. Once extinct and now resurgent in Germany, wolves were already a political hot potato before the apparent attack.
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Local police in northern Germany first recounted the 55-year-old man's account of an unusual day's work in a cemetery. The incident took place on Tuesday evening in the village of Steinfeld in the state of Lower Saxony.
The man told police that he kneeled down while working and reached behind him when he suddenly felt something bite his hand.
He turned around to see that a wolf had grabbed him. Three other wolves in a pack were watching the attack from a distance.
The man was able to free himself from the wolf's grip and drive off the pack, police said in a statement. He sustained light injuries to his hand and was later treated by a doctor, who also informed authorities about the attack.
Germany's wolf population has been gradually increasing since the animals were reintroduced in 2000. New data shows there are now up to 160 adult wolves in the country, but the animals still face a range of threats.
Image: picture alliance/blickwinkel
From persecuted to protected
Since the 15th century, wolves have been systematically persecuted, particularly in western and central Europe. By the 19th century, human hunters had almost wiped the species out completely. Now the animals are strictly protected, and it is illegal to catch or kill them.
Image: picture alliance/blickwinkel
Gradual comeback
According to new data from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), there are currently 60 packs of wolves living across Germany — 13 more than in 2016. Researchers also recorded 13 wolf couples and three sedentary single wolves, amounting to 150-160 adult animals in total.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Bernhardt
Enemy on the roads
Road traffic poses the biggest threat to wolves: 140 of the around 200 dead wolves since 2000 were killed in vehicle accidents.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Kalmar
Hunted down
In addition to road traffic, Germany's wolf population has also been targeted by illegal killings. According to official figures, 26 wolves have been shot dead in recent years, including five over the past 12 months alone.
Image: Imago/Rainer Weisflog
Early deaths
Wolves can live up to 13 years in the wild. However, only about half of all wolf pups actually survive beyond their first year. Canine distemper or mange mite infections can be fatal to weak immune systems — especially in cases where the puppies are malnourished. Pups also have a slim chance of survival if their parents are killed.
Image: Imago/blickwinkel/H. Pieper
A problem for farmers
While wolves aren't known for attacking people, they have been blamed for killing sheep. Farmers have tried to protect their land with electric fences or livestock dogs. If their animals are killed, German farmers are eligible for compensation. Some livestock owners and hunters want permission to shoot wolves to protect their animals, but conservation authorities say this is simply not an option.
Image: Rainer Dückerhoff
The friendly wolf?
Tatjana Schneider (pictured) knows wolves well. She manages the Werner Freund Wolf Park in Germany's western Saarland region, where she conducts behavioral research. Our pet dogs are domesticated versions of the wolf, and in some cases it's hard to tell them apart. One key difference, though, is that a wolf's muzzle is usually slightly longer than that of a domestic dog.
Image: Wolfspark Werner Freund/G. Kopp
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First attack since return of wolves
Experts are now racing to determine whether the animal that attacked the 55-year-old was a wolf or not.
If confirmed, it would be the first wolf attack on a human in Germany since the animals were resettled in the country.
Lower Saxony's local "Wolf Office," which is responsible for managing and keeping tabs on wolf populations, is currently investigating the case and collecting evidence at the scene.
"They are looking to see if they find something there that will corroborate the suspicions," Bettina Dörr, the spokeswoman for the office, told news agency DPA.
She added that the experts hope to find DNA clues that will help determine if the bite actually came from a wolf. The analysis could take days to complete.
Germans and wolves
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German politicians call for wolves to be hunted
The return of the wolves is a touchy subject in Germany, with politicians, environmental activists and farmers at odds with how to manage them.
Wolves went extinct in Germany over 150 years ago, but were resettled in the eastern part of the country in 2000. Since then, the wolf population has steadily grown in Germany — which has sparked controversy with farmers, who say that their livestock has been attacked.
On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative alliance in parliament published a position paper on wolf management in which they called for wolves to be allowed to be hunted, suggesting a downgrade to their "strongly protected" species status.
The Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) argue that certain limits need to be placed on wolf populations since they do not have any natural predators and continue to pose a threat to livestock and farmers' livelihoods.
Nationwide, there are an estimated 73 wolf packs, 30 wolf couples, and three lone wolves, according to data released last week by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.
