On her way to work, 24-year-old Marie Schmidt is chased by three wolves near Visselhövede.
She's on her bike.
Visselhövede - "Maybe my lifesaver?" asks Marie Schmidt and pats the saddle of her mountain bike, although she knows that nobody can give her an answer.
"I have no idea how the encounter with the three wolves would have ended if they had reached me.
The fact is that they followed me for a distance of around 200 meters and I could probably only escape them with the turbo gear of my e-bike," says the 24-year-old from Ebbingen, who cycles from the neighboring town every day Heidekreis cycled to work at Heribert Lang’s physiotherapy center in Visselhöved – at least so far.
Now the shock is still written all over her face and she is "driven first".
It's Thursday, February 16, around 1:30 p.m.
Schmidt jumps on her bike to get to her workplace in Visselhövede on time.
For the ride, she uses the cycle path along the state road 161. In the Hilligensehl area, the route swings around a small forest.
"There I wondered why horses galloped nervously back and forth in a pasture.
I thought it would be the dog running along the fence," the young woman tells kreiszeitung.de.
At home she keeps ponies and a dog herself.
Wolves pursue cyclist: "I saw her clearly and heard her breathing"
But it's not a dog that's looking at her from a distance of around 60 meters, as Schmidt quickly discovers based on the animal's coloring and size.
It's a wolf.
And he's not alone.
There are three animals whose interest she has apparently aroused.
The beasts of prey immediately move and run towards Marie Schmidt.
She turns her e-bike and pedals.
"I alternately yelled and cried."
But the wolves, whose conspecifics are also common in Bavaria, cannot be stopped from pursuing the cyclist on the cycle path.
Other cyclists do not appear on the less frequented path.
“They came within four or five meters.
I saw her clearly and heard her breathing.”
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Jürgen Cassier from Kirchwalsede has been a wolf advisor since 2013.
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The first houses in the district of Ebbingen quickly come into view.
A circumstance that probably irritates the wolves a little.
“They slowed down and finally stopped on the hard shoulder.
Maybe they also realized during the hunt that I and the bike don't match their picture of prey.” But Schmidt continues to cycle until she is quite sure that she is no longer being followed.
And now?
“I didn't have a car and had to go to work.
So after a few more minutes I took the risk of driving towards Visselhövede again.
Especially since there were a lot of cars on the neighboring road.” Her dare goes well for a few meters, up to the point in the direction of Kettenburg, where the cycle path meets the country road again.
“The three wolves stood there quietly and looked at me.
Luckily, motorists came who probably frightened them away with loud honking.
Because as if on cue, they disappeared into the undergrowth.”
It is now that you can meet wolves on walks anywhere and anytime.
Jurgen Cassier
Wolf expert advises: Don't flee, but stand still or slowly walk backwards
Arriving in Visselhövede, she tells her colleagues and the boss what she has experienced.
He calls the Visselhöveder public order office and Mathias Haase advises contacting the responsible wolf advisor Jürgen Cassier from Kirchwalsede.
"That's what I did," says the young physiotherapist.
"He told me that you shouldn't flee when you encounter one, because that would stimulate the wolves' hunting instincts." It's better to stand still or slowly walk backwards and, above all, to be loud.
This is behavior that would drive away the actually shy animals.
"It's easier said than done," says Marie Schmidt, who is now even more alert when she rides her horses.
"Nevertheless, it is important not to unnecessarily awaken the wolves' hunting instincts," says Jürgen Cassier from Kirchwalsede, who has been a wolf advisor in the Rotenburg district since 2013.
Marie Schmidt probably did exactly that when she turned her bike and drove off.
However, Cassier also emphasizes that the wolf is not particularly interested in humans because they are not part of its range of prey.
If the wolf does not distance itself, you can try to persuade the animal to move on by shouting loudly.
Encounters should always be reported to the appropriate wolf advisor.
"The young woman did that in an exemplary manner."
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A wolf in Jeerhof.
Conspecifics also feel at home in the district.
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Cassier immediately reported this situation, which he classified as a "close encounter", to the wolf office of the state agency for water management, coastal protection and nature conservation.
"Of course, people there pay attention to such incidents and the experts wanted to know from me whether there had been similar incidents in the area.
But that's not the case,” explains Cassier.
But basically it is now the case in the entire district of Rotenburg “that you can meet wolves on walks or bike tours in fields, forests and fields.
So you should always keep your eyes and ears open and treat the animals with respect.”