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"Tame" boar and deer are instinctively adapting to the wolf in the Netherlands

27 points felipevb 1 hour ago 44 comments

hbogert 1 hour ago | parent

Ah yes the nice EU experiment where it uses the Netherlands for as their experimentation grounds. The goal of having more wild life is lofty, but it makes no sense in the netherlands . For the people who don't know, there weren't wild wolves up to 2015. There now are many and they've attacked people, horses and wiped out complete herds of sheep. The amount of sheep they are killing is increasing exponentially. (not using exponentially lightly here.) Proponents during the 2015-2020 era said that it would never come to this situation, alas.

Rhetoric questions by proponents as seen on national news website[1]:

> We hebben ook weleens last van de mens, die schieten we toch ook niet af?

> -- Aaldrik Pot

Translated:

"We also have issues with people every now and then, were not shooting them are we?"

[1]: https://nos.nl/artikel/2245512-waarom-willen-we-eigenlijk-wi...

isoprophlex 58 minutes ago | parent

yes for the love of god would someone please make sure the country remains a safe, boring holiday park / dairy farm. will someone think of all that poor livestock / the children!!1

CorbenDallas 53 minutes ago | parent

"safe and boring holiday park" sounds like a sentence for a country.

homarp 51 minutes ago | parent

there is also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Pena...

Disneyland with the Death Penalty" is a 4,500-word article about Singapore written by William Gibson. It wad his first major piece of non-fiction.

RobotToaster 8 minutes ago | parent

> The Singaporean government banned Wired upon the publication of the issue.

Really not helping their reputation as authoritarian...

ShinyLeftPad 26 minutes ago | parent

> sentence for a country

Sure... It's a developed productive high tech country with agricultural exports leaving Russia in the dust despite 400 times smaller land size, but let's condemn it because it's "safe"

Also ask the farmers, fishers, ASML employees, the police dealing with gang killings and Netherlands being the biggest exporter of ecstasy and European gateway for coke how it's a "holiday park";)

gostsamo 14 minutes ago | parent

NL has the biggest port in Europe, they get to be the biggest traffic channel for illegal goods. The only one who could've changed that would've been the one to eestablish the country there.

Muromec 12 minutes ago | parent

I very much like the safe and boring part of it.

hbogert 48 minutes ago | parent

Well I guess we differ there then, I do like not having to carry a rifle or sprays when i walk outside (we are not allowed). I also like livestock and kids not having to fear a predator that we drove to the outskirts.

I do wonder where you live in the Netherlands and if you just find it convenient to talk about the rural parts without having to face the consequences.

ongediertebestr 25 minutes ago | parent

This is everything wrong with the netherlands. The over the top complaining of the “farmers” (factory operator would be more accurate).

Wolves stay away from humans, there have been zero human deaths by wolves. The whole anti wolf movement is just propaganda by the “farmers”.

derriz 24 minutes ago | parent

Wolves generally don't attack people, though, do they?

There are no recent (last half century) documented cases of wolves killing people in Europe as far as I know. The few times people have been bitten by wolves they've been feeding them or doing other stupid stuff.

Freak_NL 10 minutes ago | parent

Nope. The basic rule is that you don't do things with wolves you shouldn't do (like feeding them and thus gradually letting them get comfortable around humans), and that you don't do boneheaded shit like leaving a small child alone in nature (which is common sense in most of the world). For a wolf a three year old child is just about the same as a boar or small deer.

Anyone over the age of 12 though? Wolves won't bother you unless you've managed to fuck up nature to such an extent that they can't find their usual diet (deer, boar, etc.), and even then attacking an adult is really desperate.

There was an interesting interview with an Italian expert about wolves and people in the news this week:

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/10/15/we-zullen-moeten-wennen...

literalAardvark 5 minutes ago | parent

Well it's easy to have zero wolf attacks when there are zero wolves. We also have zero hyena attacks.

nonethewiser 57 minutes ago | parent

Everyone wants wolves except the people who have to actually live with them.

Razengan 33 minutes ago | parent

Maybe they're saying that there are better ways to coexist with animals that were here before us, before we razed their forests, than, you know, genocide

forty 27 minutes ago | parent

I'm not sure the wolves actually want to live with those people either but no one is suggesting to eradicate those people.

ItsYan 54 minutes ago | parent

Surely there are benefits to this. What are they? Could you provide a steel man of the opposition, please?

tormeh 42 minutes ago | parent

Population control, preventing overgrazing, stuff like that. However, the Netherlands (unlike most countries) is basically a big farm with practically no wild nature, so humans manage that stuff already. Maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but I don't get what benefit wolves have in the Netherlands specifically.

tourmalinetaco 7 minutes ago | parent

To the average Dutchy? Not much. To the average European? Also not much. Animal preservation is well and good and all but anything wolves can do for the deer population humans can do. Though Idk how it is in NL, but wild boars are nasty fuckers and we do good to keep them down, so there might be some benefit there, though not sure if damage by boars if offset by damage by wolves.

hbogert 2 minutes ago | parent

The promise that the ecosystem would manage itself and wolves would just pick the least fit of the herd. It's shown they just like to kill for the thrill. There are cases of 30 sheeps per night in one site. 'Just Place fences' is a common heard thing, however wolves are smart and will just jump over or dig underneath. If you want to make a proper barrier with concrete is just practically unaffordable for the farmers.

KaiserPro 4 minutes ago | parent

Its larger animal control.

Wildboars can be quite destructive, as are deers. the wolve was the natural preditor of those animals so the only thing that kept them in check was either hunting, disease or food availability.

In the UK deer over population is a problem for forestry as they eat saplings. So we spend a lot of cash hunting them (good food source, but not widely distributed in shops) Wolves stop that.

For the netherlands sspecifically, where there are deer they eat the trees that provide bank stability (ie willows) Less of a problem now but they also eat the pioneer species that were used to build polders.

Deer carry disease for cattle and sheep as well. although cows in holland are fairly hemmed in, ticks and fleas are less so.

Scarblac 50 minutes ago | parent

Primarily because sheep owners refuse to install good fences.

throw310822 42 minutes ago | parent

Hmm. Well, not sure about this. If you put yourself in the shoes of the wolf, sheep are abundant, free, delicious everything- their "economy" is exclusively food-bound. Not sure what kind of fences would keep them out, and how expensive would they be- and how long they would last.

XRG 29 minutes ago | parent

That’s not true. Wolves are incredibly smart animals and will find and exploit weak points in otherwise expensive fencing systems. They also jump surprisingly high. Moreover, once they manage to cross a fence they do not kill to feed. Instead, they slaughter entire herds of sheep for the sport of it. I personally think wolves are incredible animals, but their sudden reintroduction in the Netherlands feels ill thought out.

Someone 5 minutes ago | parent

[delayed]

defrost 48 minutes ago | parent

The wolves seemingly made it back into the Netherlands on their own:

  In a paper published in 2016, “The first proof of the recent presence of Wolves in the Netherlands,” authors wrote:

  “In light of the expansion of wolves from the Polish border to the northwest of Germany and the sightings in Denmark, the appearance of the wolf in the Netherlands was no surprise to most experts. In March 2015, this expectation was fulfilled when, after generations without resident wolves, a single wolf wandered through the Dutch provinces of Drenthe and Groningen in broad daylight. From 7 to 10 March 2015, the Netherlands witnessed the comeback of an iconic species.”
~ https://wolf.org/wow/europe/netherlands/

Wolf numbers are now reportedly at 131 split across roughly 14 packs (April 2026): https://nltimes.nl/2026/04/11/dutch-wolf-population-growing-...

I have zero insight into why Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands concluded in a study that "the Netherlands are legally required to contribute between 23 and 56 wolf packs" (Lost in translation? - perhaps "can support and shouldn't cull below these numbers" ?)

~ https://www.wur.nl/en/news/ecological-and-legal-framework-wo...

Phemist 36 minutes ago | parent

Dutch version of the WUR page says basically the same thing: "Uit het onderzoeksrapport blijkt dat Nederland juridisch gezien een bijdrage aan de wolvenpopulatie moet leveren van 23 tot 56 roedels. " -> the study concludes that the Netherlands has to contribute to the wolf population from 23 to 56 wolf packs.

Reading further:

https://edepot.wur.nl/690748

It seems that this is part of a european "habitats directive" for managing biodiversity within Europe. This directive (according to the above paper) determined there need to be around 500 wolf packs across Europe to keep wolves at a stable level without too much inbreeding. The Netherlands was found to be able to "contribute" 23 to 56 wolf packs in this sense.

defrost 33 minutes ago | parent

Ah, cheers for that - I'm on the other side of the planet and was happy to do a bit of light digging on the situation but limited by not having much grasp of the written language.

Razengan 32 minutes ago | parent

If those were wild sheep, and the wolves came there on their own like the other comments said, isn't that just nature working as intended?

If those were private sheep, shouldn't they be better guarded?

defrost 26 minutes ago | parent

As a livestock owner not in the Netherlands, yes, people should guard their stock.

That's somewhat distinct from going further beyond their boundaries to wipe out threats not directly on their land.

KaiserPro 11 minutes ago | parent

I think the issue is that for a number of generations parts of europe have not been used to apex predators.

In the UK we've not had wolves for >200 years. Which means techniques for dealing with them have been lost, and more importantly didn't evolve with land use change. hearders used to carry weapons, and guard dogs. some places had fainting goats.

I'm not sure how wolves would work in the netherlands, as the parts that I know are all way west of the ijssel. I don't imagine that wolves are fen/polder dwellers, but I might be wrong. Again looking at the norfolk/cambridge fens there are plenty of folklore tales https://www.norfolkfolkloresociety.co.uk/post/the-spectral-w...

Razengan 3 minutes ago | parent

The UK is just sickening for exterminating so many animal species, and now they're after badgers. What the hell is wrong with that country?

RobotToaster 13 minutes ago | parent

Shame they can't swim, it would be good to see them reintroduced to the UK.

throw310822 48 minutes ago | parent

It's not just the Netherlands, this is happening in Italy as well. Part of it is just the natural consequence of people having abandoned the countryside and mountains for the cities. But we certainly forgot what it means to not be the only apex predator around- we used to be able to roam around without a fear in the world like we owned the fucking place (we did). It's nice to have a wild ecosystem around but we probably forgot what it means to have around beings that are... unaligned with us.

defrost 36 minutes ago | parent

Speaking as a non urban northern Australian .. I'm guessing that's very much a European "we"?

Here we're still surrounded by wild ecosystems and unaligned others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA3SuHtCWo0

literalAardvark 7 minutes ago | parent

I guess.

It applies in more places that are heavily anthropized, such as many islands.

But yeah, most of Europe is practically a garden.

tourmalinetaco 2 minutes ago | parent

Absolutely an American and European “we”, you Aussies play on hard mode. Your closest natural deer analogue (kangaroos) looks like it served time for assault and didn’t learn its lesson, and it seems like a new poisonous animal is discovered every other week.

gvfsa 37 minutes ago | parent

Beep beep! We have detected your mild criticism of the EU and have applied the necessary downvotes. Have a nice day!

saberience 14 minutes ago | parent

Oh no, the poor sheep!

Why are sheep so important to protect versus wolves? They are both animals that existed in nature and can continue to exist in nature.

Why should we be morally inclined to try and "save" sheep at the expense of wolves. Sheep and goats and deer survived throughout history without the help of humans they will continue to exist, with or without the help of humans against wolves.

KaiserPro 9 minutes ago | parent

Its not morals, it cost.

Sheep are a cash animal, and wolves taking them cost money.

Vinnl 10 minutes ago | parent

> For the people who don't know, there weren't wild wolves up to 2015.

Well, if you go further back in time, there were. It's not like introducing a nonnative species.

isoprophlex 59 minutes ago | parent

for those who don't speak Dutch: we haven't had wolves in a long time.

now that they're back, eg. wild boar are seen congegating in groups of 50-60 animals, for herd safety. something they never did before.

Edit: this linked, translated article has more info https://nos-nl.translate.goog/artikel/2635314-wolf-maakt-zwi...

lifestyleguru 33 minutes ago | parent

Across European Plain entire native wildlife down to pigeons and rats had been killed and/or consumed at some point because of wars and famines. Entire current wildlife has been reintroduced.

asanineassasin 28 minutes ago | parent

Introducing the concept of the "scratchpost" to nature lovers. If im small and hunted, why does it help me to know predators nearby who do not hunt me- and to take predators chasing me, to them, so they get eaten? Because survival means, if i have a scratchpost, i can get rid of them.

So what is a village of humans- not allowed to hunt me near houses, with driving cars- other then a predator scratchpost. Bonuspoints if the disney-hystrics install dart guns to sedate the predators.

Also look at those boars and deer. They are massive. Are you really sure, a creature whose culture changes on a yearly basis, will not try to attack a weak human, compared to a wild boar, when hunger bites in the winter?