Thessaloniki: the wolf caught in Seich Sou

The wolf that had injured a four-year-old girl at Polichni in Thessaloniki on 30 July 2026 was captured on the evening of 13 August 2026 in the peri-urban forest of Seich Sou, according to a joint announcement by the environmental organisation Callisto, the Thessaloniki Forestry Directorate and ARCTUROS. The operation was carried out with special capture traps and was based on decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΔΔΔ/89961/2860/11-08-2026, with online posting number ΡΠ9Μ4653Π8-7Μ1. The animal is a female weighing 24.5 kilos, with its left hind limb amputated. The following day, on 14 August, it was transferred to the Wolf and Lynx Protection Centre at Agrapidies in Florina, while samples were sent for analysis to the Biology Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The amputated limb, most probably attributed to a trap, is the crucial element for interpreting the animal’s behaviour. A wolf with a serious disability struggles to hunt wild prey and turns to easier food sources, that is to rubbish, food remains and whatever it finds on the edges of the urban fabric. Repeatedly finding food near human activity leads gradually to habituation and to the loss of the natural avoidance of humans, a mechanism that has been recorded in many European cases. The same bodies point out that “the presence of a wolf near an inhabited or peri-urban area does not by itself mean that the animal is going to attack a human.”

The case is being monitored within the framework of the European programme LIFE Wild Wolf, which deals precisely with so-called problem incidents, that is with wolves showing unusual proximity to inhabited areas, while the body responsible for wildlife management is ΟΦΥΠΕΚΑ. Seich Sou, a forest of more than a million trees surrounding the urban fabric of Thessaloniki, is a characteristic case of contact between wildlife and the city: it offers cover and movement corridors, but borders on neighbourhoods, recreation spots and rubbish bins. The management of such zones rests less on removing individual animals and more on controlling food sources.

The animal remains at the centre in Florina, where its state of health is being examined, while the results of the Aristotle University analyses will provide information on its genetic identity and its condition. It has not been announced whether permanent care or another solution is envisaged. For the four-year-old, no identifying details of whom are being made public, no further information has been given beyond what became known immediately after the incident of 30 July. The question now shifts to prevention: to waste management on the edges of the forest, to informing residents and to monitoring the wolf population, issues that directly concern the environment and the daily life of society in the peri-urban suburbs.