A wolf bit a woman on a prominent shopping street in Hamburg, German authorities reported. This highly unusual incident occurred on Monday evening in the busy Grosse Bergstrasse in Hamburg Altona, near an urban IKEA store.
Reports indicate the woman attempted to guide the disoriented animal away from the commercial area. The wolf then bit the woman’s face before fleeing the scene. She was transported to a hospital but has since been released.
This event is believed to be the first documented wolf attack on a person since these animals began repopulating Germany decades ago. “There has not been a case like this since the reintroduction began in 1998,” a spokesperson for the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation stated to the German press agency dpa.
Later on Monday night, the wolf was sighted in Hamburg’s Binnenalster lake. Police recovered the animal from the water using a rope. However, the wolf resisted, and authorities equipped with shields reportedly spent approximately an hour attempting to capture it.
Matthias Hilge, a spokesman for Hamburg’s Ministry for the Environment, Climate, Energy, and Agriculture (Bukea), informed the BBC that multiple sightings of the wolf had been noted in the western part of the city in recent days. He confirmed the wolf was safe and receiving veterinary attention. “Bukea will decide on the animal’s future arrangements in the near future, following close consultation with experts,” he added.
Wolves commenced their return to Germany after a 150-year absence following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Initially, a small number of animals crossed over from Poland, and today, wolves inhabit forests across many German federal states.
Just last week, Germany’s Upper House, the Bundesrat, approved parliamentary measures permitting wolves to be hunted. Under the Federal Hunting Law, hunting wolves will now be possible as a means of population management and livestock protection, specifically for sheep and other farm animals.
Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider commented that wolves “must be allowed to stay.” He emphasized, “It is not a question of driving the wolf away again, but of finding viable ways to live peacefully alongside it.” The designated wolf hunting season is slated to run from July 1 to October 31.