Fatal traffic accident Dead animal could be wolf from Leuscheid pack
Eitorf · A car driver hit and fatally injured an animal in Leuscheid on Saturday. The external appearance suggests a wolf - possibly from the Eitorf pack. A genetic examination should bring certainty.
It could be the first time that a wolf has died in the Rhein-Sieg district after a traffic accident. On Saturday morning, a car had hit an animal on the Landesstraße 86 south of the Eitorfer village of Obereip, causing fatal injuries. The driver alerted the police, and a passer-by also alerted the wolf advisor Oliver Dreger from the Rhine-Sieg-Erft Regional Forestry Office. "The external appearance suggests that it is a wolf," says the forester from the Rodder forest district, looking at the fur colouring and physique of the dead animal. But only the genetic examination will bring certainty.
Dreger speaks of a young male. The dead animal has now been taken to the veterinary office of the Rhein-Sieg district. In the next few days, it will be examined more closely at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. Genetics could then be used to determine whether the animal belongs to the Leuscheid pack, which is located on the border between Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia between Altenkirchen and Sieg. Several young wolves from the pack had already died in car accidents in Rhineland-Palatinate.
"The territory of the pack extends over about 200 square kilometres," says Oliver Dreger. Within this space, the wolves travelled long distances. "Now they are migrating even more," says Dreger. The reproductive season is beginning, and in addition, the time has come for the young animals from 2020 to leave their territory and look for a new one.
Last year, the female of the pack had given birth again. Seven cubs could be genetically identified, according to Dreger. The father is a male newly immigrated from Bavaria who joined the pack. The animal with the identification "GW1896M" has been proven to have had several sheep kills in Windeck, Hennef and Eitorf. According to Dreger, it is still uncertain where the "old" male has remained.
Original text: Nadine Quadt
Translation: Mareike Graepel
