Hunters ‘shoot dead’ Belgium’s first wild wolf in more than 100 years | The Telegraph

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Hunters have shot dead Belgium’s first wild wolf in more than a century, conservationist groups monitoring the resurgent species have said.

Naya, a she-wolf, has been missing since May. Scientists and associations watching her since she was first spotted in Belgium in January 2018 fear the worst.

Her male companion August is now exhibiting signs of being a lone wolf once more, experts said. Naya was pregnant when she was last seen in May on one of the 60 wildlife cameras set up in rural Limburg, close to the Dutch border.

“I am 100 percent sure that Naya was shot. It is the only plausible explanation,” said Sil Janssen, of the Natuurhulpcentrum animal shelter in Oudsbergen, which is in the eastern Flemish region that Naya made her territory.

via Hunters ‘shoot dead’ Belgium’s first wild wolf in more than 100 years