NEED TO KNOW

• A wild wolf attacked a woman in the middle of a busy shopping area in Hamburg, Germany

• The woman sustained a wound to the face and received stitches following the attack

• The incident is the first such attack since wolves were reintroduced to Germany nearly three decades ago

A wolf bit a woman at a shopping center in the middle of a busy city, the first attack of its kind in several decades.

Near the Altona station in Hamburg on March 31, an otherwise normal day on Grosse Bergstrasse — a main shopping center in the German city — quickly turned dire when a wolf appeared on the bustling street and attacked a woman, per BBC and The Associated Press. The incident is being considered the first such attack by a wolf since Germany reintroduced the endangered species almost 30 years ago, per Politico.

The woman was in the busy shopping district when she spotted the wolf, which appeared disoriented and had repeatedly run into a glass window, per the German outlet NDR, citing police. The woman then attempted to lead the wolf away from the busy area when it bit her face and ran off.

The individual received medical care at the scene and was then taken to a nearby hospital to receive stitches, per Politico. She has since been discharged.

Following the attack, the wolf fled and meandered through the city until late that night, when it was located near Lake Binnenalster. Subduing the animal was no easy task, according to the BBC; police hoisted the wolf from the water with a rope, but it escaped onto land and eluded authorities for about an hour before it was captured.

The wolf has since been transported to Klövensteen Wildlife Park and is expected to return to the wilderness in the future, per NDR.

"The wolf is currently very scared and stressed," said Christian Erdmann, from the Wildlife and Species Conservation Center, per NDR. "We recommend releasing the wolf in a sparsely populated area, provided the veterinarian has given the animal a clean bill of health."

The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation told German outlet dpa that the wolf attack marks the first such incident in Germany in 28 years, since the animals first returned to the country. Before that, wolves weren't present in the country for 150 years, per AP.

"There has not been a case like this since the reintroduction began in 1998," a spokesperson told the dpa, the BBC reported.

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Though this is the first known attack on a human in recent years, wolves have posed a threat to livestock in Germany for some time, AP reported. Germany recently approved a law that makes it easier for farmers to shoot wolves that threaten livestock. In 2025, the European Parliament voted to amend wolves' status from "strictly protected" to "protected."

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