Three young wolves have been killed by a car on a provincial road near Otterlo in the Veluwe region, police have confirmed.

The police are now investigating whether or not it was an accident but have said nothing about the driver or the vehicle involved.

The wolves were killed around 6 am on the N310 which runs alongside the national park. Local ranger Frank Theunissen told local media the wolves may have come from a pack that lives in the southwest of the Veluwe region. He had uploaded a film of the pack to social media on Wednesday.

Wolven van de ZW Veluweroedel. Voorop de ouderdieren. Als eerste de reu, dan de wolvin en een jaarling en vervolgens 9 welpen. pic.twitter.com/HI72ZXSEHM

— Frank Theunissen (@ftheunissen3) September 25, 2024

Police told broadcaster Omroep Gelderland they always carry out a detailed investigation when a protected species is killed in traffic.

The deaths come on the same day that the Netherlands voted in favour of weakening the protection given to wolves throughout Europe.

On Wednesday, EU ambassadors gave the provisional green light to an EU proposal to downgrade the status of wolves from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’ in the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, also known as the Bern Convention, which is not an EU body.

The formal vote will be made without discussion by EU ministers at the meeting on Thursday.

The Netherlands is now home to between 104 and 124 wolves, according to wolf monitoring body BIJ12.

There are 11 wolf packs and several lone wolves, one of which caused panic in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug area in summer. In 2021 there was just one pack, in 2022 four and last year nine. At least 55 wolf cubs were born this year, three of which may now have died.