Representational photo
Berlin: A woman was bitten by a wolf in a shopping centre in the German city of Hamburg, the city's deputy mayor said Tuesday, in the first such attack in modern times.
The wolf entered the complex in the northern city's Altona area on Monday evening after being repeatedly spotted in different parts of Hamburg over several days, Katharina Fegebank told journalists.
The incident is the first of its kind since the species began returning to Germany almost 30 years ago, according to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
According to the Bild daily, the woman was bitten in the face.
The wolf had previously been sighted on Saturday in the west of Hamburg and at other locations on Sunday morning and afternoon, according to the local environment agency.
Fegebank said that "until yesterday evening the wolf had shown typical behaviour for a wild animal and had avoided human contact".
She said it was not clear why the wolf had entered the shopping centre, suggesting that "the confined space and proximity to people led to a situation of extreme stress" for the animal.
The wolf has since been captured by police and taken to a wildlife park.
Fegebank said that "we will find a solution for the wolf very quickly".
The animal is most likely a cub that was in the process of leaving its pack, according to experts.
Wolves were effectively wiped out in Germany by the mid?19th century, largely due to persecution, bounties and habitat loss.
However, wolves migrating from Poland began settling again in eastern Germany after reunification, when stronger wildlife protections were introduced.
An official study last year recorded 219 packs of wolves across the country, as well as 43 wolf pairs and 14 lone wolves.
The German government in December backed legislation that would allow regular hunting of wolves in order to manage populations in areas with large packs.
