Credit: Laurent Schley

After the confirmation of the presence of female wolves in the Dahl area, Luxembourg’s Nature and Forest Agency has announced an information evening will be held in Dahl on Tuesday 21 January 2025, at 19:30.

In mid-December 2024, the bodies of several sheep were discovered on a pasture in the Dahl area, with the cause of death indicating the involvement of a predator. Based on a report by experts from the Nature and Forest Agency, the involvement of a wolf could not be ruled out. Samples were taken from the bite wounds of the dead sheep for genetic analyses, with the aim of obtaining enough saliva with usable DNA to identify the perpetrator.

The samples were examined at the Senckenberg Institute in Gelnhausen in Germany, which is the reference laboratory in this area. The Senckenberg Institute has now communicated the results of the laboratory analyses, in relation to the species identification and its origins, to the Nature and Forest Agency.

The official conclusions of the analyses are:

- Species analysis has shown that the animal which killed two sheep in the Dahl area was clearly a wolf. The farmer of the dead sheep will therefore be compensated 100%;

- Population analysis has shown that the wolf is from the Central European population, whose main distribution area extends from the Vistula in central Poland to Lower Saxony in Germany. Wolves from this population have also been found in Belgium, the Netherlands, Rhineland-Palatinate and northern France;

- Gender analysis has shown that the wolf is a female. Since the wolf reappeared in Luxembourg in 2017, this is the first evidence of a female in the Grand Duchy;

- Genotype analysis showed that it was wolf GW3691f, who was born in the Netherlands (Zuidwest-Veluwe pack) and was first genetically recorded in October 2023.

As a result of these conclusions, the Nature and Forest Agency, together with the municipality of Goesdorf, will hold an information evening on Tuesday 21 January 2025 at 19:30, at Theaterhall, Campus scolaire, 13 Nacherwee, Dahl. As part of the information event, a lecture will be given by Dr Laurent Schley entitled "Coexistence between humans and wolves: realism or utopia?". Participation in the information evening is free and open to everyone. 

For monitoring purposes, people are advised to immediately report any possible indications of the presence of wolves in the Grand Duchy to the Nature and Forest Agency by email: wolf@anf.etat.lu