Cases / Law, regulation and treaties · Netherlands · 2017–2018
Netherlands rewilding reserve records 3,226 deaths in winter 2017–18
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
About 3,226 animals died in the Oostvaardersplassen reserve in the winter of 2017–18, and the rewilding experiment ended in 2018. The case tests whether a rewilding reserve can keep its animal numbers in balance.
What?
3,226 animals died in the Oostvaardersplassen reserve in winter 2017–18, and the experiment ended in 2018 Utrecht University
Where?
Oostvaardersplassen reserve, Netherlands Utrecht University
When?
Winter 2017–18; the experiment ended in 2018 Utrecht University
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
- Animals in the Oostvaardersplassen reserve — 3,226 died in winter 2017–18, per a Utrecht University paper Utrecht University
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
The deaths followed a rewilding approach that expected nature in the reserve to balance itself. Utrecht University
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
A Utrecht University paper reports that 3,226 animals died in the Oostvaardersplassen reserve in the winter of 2017–18.
The paper states that the expectation of self-balancing nature at the reserve collapsed, and that the experiment ended in 2018.
DutchNews reported around 3,200 deaths in the rewilding in May 2018.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- None on record The cause of death, and the species involved, are not stated in the sources reviewed.
- None on record The DutchNews figure (around 3,200) and the Utrecht figure (3,226) are not reconciled in the sources reviewed.
- None on record The date of the Utrecht paper is not given in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers
Press and investigations
- Oostvaardersplassen: around 3,200 deaths in rewildingDutchNews · 2018-05
Researchers
- Oostvaardersplassen: winter 2017–18 deaths and the end of the experimentUtrecht University ·