Researcher Nina Villing with the Bennekom wolf. Photo Marielle van Uitert As the number of wolves increases in the Netherlands, so does the number of dead ones that need to be examined — in principle, Wageningen Environmental Research studies every dead wolf found on the road or in a field. Even so, a wolf autopsy still feels special. That is definitely the case for the dissection carried out on Monday last week. Firstly because of the beast itself, which died the previous Friday evening. ‘This is clearly the biggest of all the dead wolves I have ever had to transport or examine,’ says researcher Nina Villing. Secondly because of the location: the wolf died just a few kilometres from the campus, on the N781 road to the A12 motorway. That is a route a lot of WUR folk commute along every day, including Villing herself.
DNA analyses
The wolf in question is an adult male in good condition, says Villing. By the end of the week she will know which individual wolf it is — and whether forest ranger Frank Theunissen is right in thinking it’s the father of the pack of what were originally 11 cubs on the south Veluwe. ‘Of course we take DNA samples from the wolves we examine. The DNA analyses that let us determine the individual are performed once a quarter, so we don’t get those results immediately,’ she explains.
