An investigation into DNA found on the clothes of a three-year-old has shown that she was knocked over by a wolf, the Utrecht provincial authorities have said.

The child had been walking with her father and grandparents near Austerlitz in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug area when the confrontation occurred. It was later made clear that the wolf did not go for the girl but for the dog that accompanied them.

The Utrechtse Heuvelrug is home to a wolf pair with cubs and a lone wolf has also been seen to roam the area. More DNA testing will have to show which of the wolves was implicated in this incident, which is the latest in a series in the province.

The nearby Den Treek estate in Leusden, where a girl was nipped by a wolf last month, will remain closed to the public and parents have been warned not to take their children for walks in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug area.

Utrecht is still going ahead with a request for a licence to shoot wolves, although it has since been advised by animal protection organisation Zoogdierenvereniging that the wolf’s behaviour does not make it a problem.

The province also wants permission to catch the lone wolf to fit it with a transmitter to track its movements and to make it less inclined to approach people.