NEED TO KNOW
- A child was transported to the hospital after being bitten by a wolf and dragged into woods at a nature reserve in the Netherlands
- The incident happened on July 30 in front of the 6-year-old boy’s mother and younger brother, according to reports
- The wolf released the child after the adults present threw sticks at the animal
A child is recovering after being attacked by a wolf in the Netherlands.
The 6-year-old boy was visiting a nature reserve with his mother and younger brother in Utrecht, which is 32 miles south of Amsterdam, when the incident occurred on Wednesday, July 30, according to U.K. newspaper The Times and local media outlet RTV Utrecht.
The attack happened at the Den Treek estate. In a statement shared on their official website, the estate said the boy was bitten and dragged into the woods by the animal.
“On Wednesday morning, July 30th, a child was bitten by a wolf (presumably Bram) and dragged into the woods,” the statement read. “The child was with several adults and other children in the woods near the Pyramid of Austerlitz. While playing, the child was unexpectedly attacked by the wolf and dragged away.”
The statement added, “Due to the prompt action of the adults present, who hit the wolf with a stick, the wolf released the child into the woods and ran away. The child was taken away by ambulance. The victim’s condition is not yet known.”
According to The Times and RTV Utrecht. the boy received stitches for bite wounds on his back and near his armpit. He also had scratches and abrasions.
Images shared with RTV Utrecht showed large scratches on the boy’s back. He has since left the hospital and is back at home, according to the outlet.
“I thought it was a playful dog running towards us and thought, Nice, I’ll go and play,’ ” the boy’s mother, Nynke, 41, told The Times. “But before I got there, I heard my eldest son screaming very loudly. He was jumped by the animal and dragged into the woods.”
Speaking of how her son was rescued, she added, “There were two men with big sticks who beat the animal and eventually they got it off my son. I was in a state of total panic and grief.”
Two other women who were nearby then called emergency services, according to RTV Utrecht.
“I’m very happy that I wasn’t alone with my two children,” Nynke told The Times.
“It’s not like we were going for a walk deep in the woods where no one normally goes,” the boy’s father Mike, who was not present at the time of the attack, told RTV Utrecht.
“We knew about previous incidents at the Den Treek Estate, but I didn’t know that the Pyramid of Austerlitz was also part of it,” he added.
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Other incidents of recent wolf attacks in the area include a little girl being bitten and a toddler being knocked, according to The Times.
Officials from the estate advised people to not visit the reserve with children “and/or dogs until the wildlife managers of the Utrecht Fauna Management Unit have completed their work.”
They added that a hiker was bitten by a Bram wolf in the area on May 19, while the species was alsop responsible for other biting incidents in 2024.
Mayor Magda Jansen of the municipality of Woudenberg, which is near Utrecht, also said in a statement, “Please heed this advice. Do not enter the forest with children. As an adult, you must also be very alert when entering the forest. Stay on the paths and, above all, do not enter the forest alone,” per RTV Utrecht.
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