It will not be long before the wolf is once again roaming the Dutch countryside, natural heritage organisation Natuurmonument said on Tuesday.

Last week a lone wolf was spotted near the German town of Meppen, which is just 15 kilometres from the Dutch border.

‘The wolf was caught on a photo taken with a trip-wire camera,’ the organisation said in a statement on its website.

In August 2011, a wolf was reported to have been seen in Gelderland near Duiven and in September in the Veluwe national park. But in both cases there was no photo as evidence.

Wolves were last officially seen in the Netherlands in 1897.