{"id":814582,"date":"2026-07-21T15:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/814582\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T15:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:07:11","slug":"stand-still-make-eye-contact-denmark-tells-tourists-how-to-behave-in-a-wolf-encounter-denmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/814582\/","title":{"rendered":"Stand still, make eye contact: Denmark tells tourists how to behave in a wolf encounter | Denmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danish authorities have advised tourists to stand still, make eye contact and put up \u201cmaximum resistance\u201d in the event of attack if they encounter a wolf while on holiday.<\/p>\n

After a 200-year absence, wolves started returning to Denmark<\/a> in 2012. There are now estimated to be 49 wolves on the Danish peninsula of Jutland.<\/p>\n

Generally, it is rare for wolves to even approach humans, but in the area around the popular tourism destination of Oksb\u00f8l, young ones were spotted doing so earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The municipality of Varde and Visit Vesterhavet have distributed flyers containing the government advice around holiday homes, campsites and tourist offices in Danish, English and German.<\/p>\n

Tourists are told to keep calm and still in the presence of a wolf, hold eye contact, take a picture of the animal and, if it will not go away of its own accord, shout, clap hands and wave arms. They are advised not to follow or to turn their backs on an approaching wolf. The tip is to \u201cstare directly at it\u201d to \u201cshow dominance\u201d.<\/p>\n

While there have been no wolf attacks on humans in Denmark<\/a>, in the event of it happening, tourists are urged: \u201cYou must offer maximum resistance: hit and kick and use any blunt weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government advice also states that children under the age of 10 should be accompanied by an adult in the Oksb\u00f8l area.<\/p>\n

Wolves have long had a presence in Denmark<\/a> \u2013 the oldest wolf bones in the country are 13,000 years old \u2013 but after the last wolf was shot in 1813 they only started to make a comeback in the last two decades.<\/p>\n

Their presence has received a mixed response, often dividing people along political lines. In April, two ponies were killed by wolves in a fortnight. Soon after, four MPs from the far-right Danish People\u2019s party were reported to police<\/a> for sharing a Facebook post calling on people to \u201cShoot the wolf\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wolves are protected by EU law.<\/p>\n

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The return of wolves has divided opinions in Denmark. Photograph: Ricochet64\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

The wolf expert Peter Sunde, a wildlife ecology professor at Aarhus University, said: \u201cDuring the winter and spring of 2026, at least two young wolves were observed approaching humans and exhibiting markedly reduced flight distances in the area around Oksb\u00f8l that is a tourist hotspot. One of these wolves is still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

This type of behaviour, he said, usually happens when young wolves are repeatedly exposed to humans. \u201cIt has been discussed whether tourists, who may be unaware both of the presence of wolves in the area and of the basic recommendations regarding wolf encounters, may have contributed to the development of this behaviour,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo prevent similar behaviour from developing in future generations of young wolves, it is important that people who live in or visit wolf habitats \u2013 including tourists \u2013 understand that they should neither approach wolves nor leave food that may attract them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Varde\u2019s second deputy mayor, Sandie Eis Ravn, said the campaign was aimed at informing tourists at the request of local businesses. \u201cIf you are visiting somewhere and you know there is a wolf in the nearby forest, to make sure you have the right code of conduct when you meet this creature,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danish authorities have advised tourists to stand still, make eye contact and put up \u201cmaximum resistance\u201d in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-814582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}