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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

SE: Wolf snatches puppy in ‘scared’ Swedish town

After a baby Jack Russell was snatched from his front yard by a wolf in central Sweden, the man who was dogsitting the puppy has told The Local that his town is growing scared about the number of attacks in the area.

Hans and Elizabeth Liebenholtz were looking after their 20-year-old daughter Hanna’s Jack Russell, Max, while she was at work on Wednesday.

But just after Elizabeth let the puppy, who was born just 18 months ago, into their yard for some early morning fresh air, a wolf showed up and snatched the animal.

“She just saw the wolf outside the house and then a moment later it just took the dog and ran away,” Hans told The Local.

“I didn’t know what to do when it happened, it was total chaos,” he added.

“It was terrible making that phone call to my daughter to tell her about it.”

Hans said that his family suspected that Max had been killed and eaten by the predator. He explained that he had decided to share the family’s traumatic story in order to raise the profile of wolf attacks in his town, Järbo, which is in Sandviken in central Sweden.

“I asked one of the hunters I know what to do and he told me it was good to get it out so that the authorities start to understand how it is for us,” he said.

“I have talked to the neighbours and now they are afraid for their animals…just a few weeks ago a calf was taken from a farm. Also a lot of sheep have gone and people are getting crazy.”

The pensioner, who first shared his story with Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet on Thursday, said he had contacted the police, and regional and local government officials to ask them to look into the problem.

“I think they [the wolves] should be in the woods and not around the people where we live. I want to feel safe when I get out in my own yard and not get attacked by animals,” he said.

The Local has contacted Sandviken municipality for comment.

There are believed to be around 370 wolves in Sweden, with most of them living in the far north of the country. They are social animals that usually move and hunt in packs.

Wolf hunting is a sensitive issue in Sweden, which reintroduced the practice in 2010 and 2011. But since then environmental campaigners have been successful in fighting the government’s decisions to allow culling.

Maddy Savage

Source