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European wolf (symbolic image)
Photo: Michael Schöne / STAR-MEDIA / imago images
A wolf is said to have been walking around downtown Nordhorn near the Dutch border.
"We had numerous sightings," said a police spokesman.
The wolf passed several properties.
It was reported that the animal was paralyzed and possibly injured.
In the afternoon, police officers and a wolf adviser followed the animal, the police said.
At first they considered stunning and capturing the wolf.
"At some point he ran away at a brisk gallop," said the police spokesman.
He had disappeared in the direction of an air force training area, which was also a wolf area.
The assumption that the wolf was injured was not confirmed, the police said in the evening under the heading "Lifting the wolf warning".
No wolves have appeared in Nordhorn in the past.
"Today was extraordinary," said the announcer.
The risk for humans of being attacked by a wolf is usually very small.
In Central Europe, according to the nature and environmental protection organization WWF, there is no documented case in which a healthy, wild specimen has attacked a person.
However, grazing animal owners in particular are skeptical of the increasing spread of animals in Germany.
Usually, wolves hunt roe deer, wild boar and red deer, but they also hunt down livestock when the opportunity arises.
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bbr / dpa