A wolf which was spotted taking a nap in a shed next to a house in Hengelo in Gelderland has been released back into the wild.

The animal was discovered on Monday morning by the owner of the house who rang the police.

A spokesman for Gelderland province said the animal, which slept through the commotion and woke up in the afternoon, was checked over by a vet. It was healthy and unhurt so was carried to a local wood and left to wake up on its own.

Two years ago another wolf was found asleep in the back garden of a house in Doetinchem but to find a wolf taking shelter near a house it is still a “very unusual situation”, the vet told local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland.

Some locals said they were worried about the presence of the wolf near houses. “There’s a playground just opposite. You never know what might happen if it’s a wounded animal,” one neighbour said. Another said she was worried about her sheep and horses.

In December the European Commission proposed to relax the rules for protecting the wolf, following a rise in attacks on sheep and cattle.

Dutch junior farm minister Jean Rummenie, from the pro-farmers party BBB, has urged the commission to come up with the proposal quickly and said he “will already start working on amending national legislation.”

“I believe that more action is urgently needed to prevent attacks and to intervene quickly in the event of incidents,” he said.

The BBB earlier called for the Netherlands to be a wolf-free zone.