“This is truly the outing that kids look forward to all year,” says Anneke Bosma, president of Poptaruters Dronryp. Her association has been organizing a pony camp in the village of Zwejelti in Drenthe province for 25 years. But this year it will not happen.

“Because a wolf has been spotted in the area, the danger is very high. The problem is this: Horses are flying animals. If a horse smells or sees a wolf, it starts running.” With the danger of horse stampedes, Bosma says it is not responsible to walk with children in the area.

Roelof Bos, an accommodation owner in Drenthe, tells RTL News that seven pony camps at his site have been cancelled. “One of them is still detained, but it is still in doubt. We no longer dare to do evening or night activities. The damage as a result is at least 150 thousand euros.”

Nine packs of wolves

The wolf is a protected species and is increasingly being spotted in different areas in the Netherlands. According to BIJ12, the agency that tracks wolf numbers in the provinces, there are currently nine wolf packs living in the Netherlands.

Seven herds live in the Velovi region, the other two in central Drenthe and the Drenthe-Frisian region. Drenthe has a number of established wolves, meaning they have their own territory, and a number of roaming wolves. Because wolves are able to spread quickly, it is also possible to spot them in an area where they do not necessarily live.

Sheep attacked

The presence of the wolf also meant that Wiebeke Frens could no longer give pony lessons to the children on her stud farm. “Nobody knows what the potential problems are,” says Vries. “But the sheep were attacked here and there, and after a while the attacks became more and more hideous. Last summer, a wolf was seen frequently, which made us afraid. What do you do when you are in the forest with children and then the wolf comes?”

Ultimately, Friens chose to stop teaching lessons because she did not want to risk dangerous situations for the children. “Many people in the area no longer dare to put their sheep outside, for example. As a result, a beautiful part of the countryside is disappearing.”

Wolf expert Glenn Lelyveld of the Mammal Society understands people’s fear of the animal, but he would not make a decision to cancel the pony camp because of this. “If you go into the woods with children this way, the chance of a wolf getting close is very small. The sound of the children is more likely to scare the wolf away.” According to Lelieveld, wolves also do a lot to avoid detection.

Little chance of danger

Lelyveld estimates that the likelihood that the wolves would be frightened by the ponies and that a dangerous situation would arise is small. “In general, ponies are not fearful animals. I can imagine that only non-fearful ponies are used in this type of camp.”

Wolf expert Erwin van Manen of the environmental research agency EcoNatura also agrees. He states that the fear is understandable due to the wolf’s attacks on other animals. But he also says that the wolf does not easily reveal itself, and that it is a coincidence that the animal was spotted. “The possibility of a wolf doing something crazy against a pack of ponies is really small. Dogs chasing ponies is a bigger risk. I know from my own experience that the wolf is more afraid of me than I am of him.”