Why has a wolf killing 20 sheep left Flemish scouts barred from the woods at night?
After a wolf killed some twenty sheep in a single attack, leaders in parts of Flanders have kept youth groups out of the woods after dark.
In 30 seconds
- A single wolf killed roughly 20 sheep in one attack in Flanders, per Het Laatste Nieuws reporting.
- Some scout and youth-movement leaders responded by keeping groups out of the woods at night.
- Wolves returned to Flanders in 2018 (the female Naya, in Limburg) after a century's absence; packs now exist in Limburg and the Antwerp Kempen.
- In December 2024 the Bern Convention downgraded the wolf from 'strictly protected' to 'protected'; the EU amended the Habitats Directive to match in 2025.
A wolf killed roughly twenty sheep in a single attack in Flanders, prompting some scout and youth-movement leaders to keep groups out of the woods at night. The story matters beyond the local incident because it intersects the wider return of wolves to Belgium since 2018 and a 2024–2025 European decision to downgrade the wolf's legal protection. Key entities: the wolf packs of the Limburg and Antwerp Kempen; the Agentschap Natuur en Bos (ANB), Flanders' nature agency; Scouts en Gidsen Vlaanderen and other youth movements; conservation group Welkom Wolf; farmers' body Algemeen Boerensyndicaat; and, at European level, the Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive.
Background
Wolves were hunted to extinction in Belgium more than a century ago. The species returned to Flanders in 2018 with the female Naya, settling in Limburg — the first wild wolf on Flemish soil in living memory. Breeding packs have since established across Limburg and the Antwerp Kempen. Their protection derived from the 1979 Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive, both of which listed the wolf as strictly protected until the 2024–2025 downgrade.
What to do
Families in wolf regions should note that specialists rate the human risk as very low and the guidance as precautionary; sheep keepers are strongly advised to install ANB-recommended wolf-resistant electric fencing, which is subsidised and is the single most effective protection against livestock attacks.
Impact
Regional — Flanders' wolf packs are concentrated in Limburg and the Antwerp Kempen, where hobby farms and youth-movement territories overlap with heath and forest. The Agentschap Natuur en Bos administers livestock compensation and fencing subsidies there, and would be the body authorising any intervention against a specific wolf under the looser rules now in force.
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- 3 Dec 2024, 01:00
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.