Five ponies belonging to Vital Vandijck were in a meadow on Meeuwense Kapelstraat when tragedy struck. According to the owner, everything was calm around 3 pm on Tuesday, shortly after his brother’s passing. Though,at approximately 5:30 pm,two ponies were discovered dead,suspected victims of wolf attacks. The bodies remained in the meadow, while two other ponies sustained injuries but survived, and a fifth was traumatized.

The wolves likely entered the meadow through adjacent cornfields, as the area lacked a wolf-proof fence. The remaining three ponies have since been moved to a safer location.

Ponies as Easy Prey

“Wolf Noëlla is currently with a pack of ‘teenagers’, who eat twice as much as adult wolves.”

in the past month, wolves have killed 10 ponies in Limburg. The wolves involved are believed to be Noëlla and Maurice. According to Joachim Mergeay from the Institute for Nature and Forest Research (Inbo), this pattern often occurs when wolves have young.”Wolf Noëlla is currently with a pack of ‘teenagers’, who eat twice as much as adult wolves,” he stated. As the cubs are unable to hunt,”So the parents drag on kilos of meat to vomit. Then ponies also fall prey.”

ponies are particularly vulnerable due to their availability, enclosed pastures, slow speed, and small size. Jan Loos of Welcome Wolf explained, “They fit perfectly between the prey animals that wolves like to eat,” but added, “Yet wolves generally prefer wild prey to domestic animals.” Loos points to the hunting of 4,200 deer and wild boar in 2024 as a contributing factor: “If it were not hunted, wolves would probably turn less quickly to domestic animals.”