Wolf in Bremen: DNA test confirms wolf sighting in gardens

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A European gray wolf in the wild

Photo: imago stock / IMAGO/Martin Wagner

After several wolf sightings in the city of Bremen, it is clear that a wolf actually walked through Bremen-Hastedt at the end of October. The result for the DNA samples for an animal observed on October 22 is available, the state hunting association announced on its homepage. It was examined by the Center for Wildlife Genetics in Gelnhausen, Hesse.

"The animal is a pure male wolf (born in 2022 in northern Saxony)." The wolf was last recorded after a crack at the end of August in the Jasmund National Park on the island of Rügen. Now Radio Bremen had reported on the confirmation.

Wolf jumps over 1.60 meter high fence

According to a spokesman for the Bremen State Hunters' Association, the wolf was spotted in two small Bremen gardens in October. In a garden, the predator tried to bite through a fence and injured itself on a plastic covering. On the initiative of the state hunters' association, a DNA sample was secured, the spokesman reported. According to witnesses, the wolf, which was injured in the mouth and bleeding, finally jumped out of the garden from a standing position over a fence about 1.60 meters high and ran away.

At the end of October, Bremen's environmental department confirmed the wolf sightings and assumed that a single young wolf had lost its way in the city area. "Young wolves break away from their packs at this time of year and wander long distances in search of a territory or conspecifics," said a spokesman for the department.

Wolf has the highest possible protection status

In Germany, the federal states are responsible for wolf management, but the wolf is strictly protected by international and national laws and has the highest possible protection status among animal species. Again and again it happens that wolves overcome fences and tear livestock. Numerous politicians are calling for the growing wolf population to be limited. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) wants to make it easier to shoot wolves after cracks.

jpa/dpa