A Dutch student was harassed by a few wolves on Thursday morning when he cycled alone through the rural area of Utrechtse Heuvelrug. The boy escaped unscathed and suffered no damage, the school director said in an email to parents.
According to the school, the boy was harassed in the rural area between Scherpenzeel and Amersfoort in the Netherlands. The student would have fallen – whether or not by the wolves – and would have been surrounded by the animals, whereby they also ‘stepped on him’, according to parents at the school. The wolves are said to have fled after a passing motorist sounded his horn.
The student’s school asks parents in an email not to let their children cycle through this rural area alone.
Remarkable message
According to Maurice La Haye of the Dutch Wolf Reporting Center of the Mammal Society, it is remarkable if several wolves had attacked a student at this location. “Reports about the Utrechtse Heuvelrug so far concern a single wolf, popularly called Bram. He has always been spotted alone and mainly focused on walkers with dogs. Besides, we haven’t heard anything about him in a month and a half.”
The Wolf Reporting Center collects observations to monitor the presence of the animal. Incidents must be reported to the police. There is currently no agency that centrally monitors these types of confrontations. So it is not clear how often this occurs.