A wolf was killed on Thursday morning after being hit by a vehicle on the North-South (N74) motorway in Limburg, VRT has reported.
The accident occurred between 08:00 and 08:30 on the borders of the municipalities of Eksel and Overpelt. The animal's body was retrieved shortly after by the Nature Aid Centre (Natuurhulpcentrum), an animal aid organisation based in Oudsbergen.
"It is already the third time that a wolf has been hit on the North-South motorway," said Frederik Thoelen, an employee at the Nature Aid Centre.
Thoelen added that the deceased wolf was male, although he was unsure of its age: "His teeth are already a bit brown, but that certainly does not mean that it is an older wolf. We will have to wait for the autopsy of the Institute for Nature and Forest Research (Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek)."
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Last December, a seven-month-old wolf cub was killed under similar circumstances in Limburg, in an incident which deeply angered many Belgian animal conservationists.
"We know perfectly well where those wolves cross busy roads," Jan Loos of the Welkom Wolf conservation group told Het Belang van Limburg. "We have been asking for months to better secure these places, for example by introducing speed limits. But the Government did not listen. They are guilty of failing to act. The Flemish Government has not fulfilled its duty of care."
More than twenty wolves are currently estimated to be living in Belgium.
