Speaking to a radio interviewer, party leader Caroline van der Plas came out in support of Henk Vermeer, another BBB MP, who said he would be happy to see a “wolf-free zone the size of the Netherlands.” Wolves were beautiful animals that should not live near people, Van der Plas said. Most Read on Euro Weekly News “There have already been two attacks on children,” she added, citing two recent incidents in Utrecht.
“The wolf must go.” A wolf knocked a three-year-old to the ground in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug area in early August, but was more interested in pursuing a dog than hurting a child, Dick Klees from the Zoogdierenvereniging group maintained after speaking to her father. A DNA test will eventually reveal if this was the same animal that nipped a child and attacked a small dog in the nearby Den Treek estate which has since been closed to the public.
At the same time, Klees repeated the Utrecht authorities’ warning not to visit the woods with small children. BBB has formerly pushed to modify the wolf’s protected status in the Netherlands, making it possible to shoot those that attack sheep, although this was the first time the party has demanded an outright ban. Henk admitted that he did not expect parliamentary support but said he hoped that Agriculture minister Femke Wiersma, who belongs to the BBB party, would take steps to persuade Brussels to remove some of the protection currently given to wolves.
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