Scientists with the wolf research group Wolvenmeldpunt have managed to capture a wolf eating a dead deer on film, and the result, they say, shows the value of the predator in the food chain.

This spring the researchers came across the body of a deer which, DNA testing showed, had been killed by a wolf. They decided to place a hidden camera at the scene to show what would happen next.

Not only did the wolf return to the location five times to eat its prey, but boar, foxes, ravens and buzzards also came to feast on the dead animal.

‘It was busy for a week,’ the researchers said. ‘Even a badger came to have a look, but by then there was not much of the deer left.’