Wolf with tracker swims over rivers, travels 30 kilometres a day

Five animals have so far been fitted with tracking collars in a study examining how wolves, prey animals and people move through the Dutch landscape, researchers at the Hoge Veluwe national park said on Thursday.

The researchers, led by Wageningen University, have so far tagged one wolf and four deer. More than 400 visitors have also voluntarily carried GPS trackers while walking in the park, covering almost 13,000 kilometres in total.

Early results from the wolf’s transmitter show how freely the animal moves across the Netherlands. Since being tagged on 16 October 2025, the wolf has travelled 2,528.5 kilometres, crossing four provinces and passing through the territories of nine different packs.

Data show the wolf ranged through Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe and Utrecht, covering an average of around 30 kilometres a day. Shortly after being collared in the Hoge Veluwe, it left the park and spent two weeks moving through Overijssel and Drenthe before returning to the Veluwe.

From late October until early December the animal stayed mainly in the south-east Veluwe. On 6 December it moved on to the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, where it has been detected regularly for about a month.

It is to early to say if the wolf is considering making that region its home,  the researchers say.

“The wolf with the tracker illustrates how well wolves can move through the landscape,” researcher Frank van Langevelde said. “It swam across the IJssel river and back, and it crossed several motorways, always at night.”

The study aims to provide a factual basis for debate and policy on wolves by measuring how they, their prey and people use the landscape. For now, researchers say, the available data are still too limited to draw firm conclusions.