# Wolf Bram's shooter will not be investigated despite late shot

> The Public Prosecution Service says it will not investigate the person who shot the wolf on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug at 23.10, hours after the permitted time.

Society · published 2026-11-13 14:30 · https://nlnow.nl/a/shooter-of-problem-wolf-bram-will-not-face-prosecution/

The Openbaar Ministerie (OM) is not opening a criminal investigation into the person who shot wolf GW3237m, nicknamed Bram, on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug on 1 December last year. A spokesperson for the Functioneel Parket confirmed this.

Bram was shot dead at 23.10. The permit allowed shooting only until 17.33, one hour after sunset. Animal Rights and Werkgroep Wolf Leusden had made an allegation against the shooter, saying the shooting was illegal because it came hours after the permitted time.

The OM says the shooter rightly chose to kill the wolf outside the permitted time. It cited "the pressure from the public, who wanted to prevent new incidents, and the fact that four months had gone by without any successful attempt to shoot the wolf".

The province of Utrecht granted the permit in the summer of 2025 because Bram had been involved in serious incidents on the Heuvelrug. He attacked a 6-year-old boy near Austerlitz and bit a pedestrian. According to the province, the Omgevingsdienst Utrecht, which checks compliance with permits for the province, had earlier looked into the matter and found a minor violation of the permit.

Animal Rights said it is disappointed. "It sets a precedent that the conditions in permits don't have to be followed and can simply be interpreted however you like," the organisation said.

## Background

- **OM (Openbaar Ministerie)**: The Public Prosecution Service, which decides whether suspects are prosecuted and brings criminal cases to court.
- **Functioneel Parket**: The Functioneel Parket is a national specialist department of the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) in the Netherlands. It handles certain complex and specialised criminal cases across the country, rather than cases tied to one region, and decides whether a case is prosecuted. Its decisions on whether to open or drop a criminal investigation are how it determines if a suspect faces prosecution.
- **Omgevingsdienst Utrecht**: The Omgevingsdienst Utrecht is a regional environmental service in the Netherlands that carries out environmental permit assessments and supervision (toezicht en handhaving) on behalf of the province of Utrecht and participating municipalities. It checks whether activities and permits comply with environmental rules and can take enforcement action when they do not. Its advice and supervision shape how environmental permits in the province are assessed and enforced.

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