In a strange turn of events, a young e-bike cyclist in Lower Saxony has managed to escape a pack of wolves that chased her on her commute to work. According to the cyclist, the bike’s “turbo” setting is to thank for the skin-of-her-teeth escape from the panting pack.
On a day just like any other, which would in fact turn out to be quite memorable, a 24-year-old woman living in Lower Saxony was cycling to work on her e-bike.
“I have no idea what would have happened if the wolves would have caught up with me,” Marie Schmidt told Kreiszeitung. Schmidt had been riding on a country road near the town of Visselhövede when she noticed a group of horses behaving suspiciously.
At a nearby fence, Schmidt saw what the first believed to be a dog, which, upon closer inspection, was indeed a wolf. From one moment to the next, the lone wolf became part of a pack of three, all of which were suddenly charging towards her.
Schmidt turned back in the direction she originally came from and peddled as fast as possible while the wolves, with a now whetted appetite, chased her for hundreds of metres. “They were as close as four or five metres away from me,” Schmidt told Kreiszeitung, “I felt them there and I could hear them breathing.”
Saved by the so-called turbo setting on her e-bike, Schmidt managed a tight escape from the salivating rout. After catching her breath she contacted a wolf specialist from Kirchwalsede who advised the cyclist that in certain meetings it is best not to run away from the wolves since this triggers their hunting instinct.
“The best thing to do is stay still or walk slowly backwards,” expert Jürgen Cassier told Schmidt. “But that is of course easier said than done”, the young woman added.
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