In the 19th century, this animal was referred to as the "last Erlangen wolf", as wolves had been considered extinct here since 1750. District forester Konrad Nützel shot it on November 21, 1809 in the monastery forest near Frauenaurach. Fresh snowfall had led the hunter on the trail of the animal. In the months before, there had been repeated attacks on flocks of sheep near Möhrendorf and Dechsendorf. The wolf was stuffed at the university's Zoological Institute. This gave it its aggressive appearance with bared teeth and hanging (wooden) tongue, reminiscent of the "bad wolf" from Grimm's fairy tales.
From 1921 until the early 1980s, the specimen was exhibited in the Erlangen Museum of Local History and City Museum. As the wolf was stroked by countless
visitors*, it suffered considerable "hair loss". The animal spent the last decades in the museum depot.
For the current exhibition "Intervention and Search for Traces", artist Regine von Chossy has brought the wolf back to the Stadtmuseum and placed some of her hair artworks alongside it. Today, over 200 years after the appearance of the alleged "last Erlangen wolf", there are wolves in Franconia again. In March 2019, an animal was run over on the highway near Möhrendorf.
Photo: Erich Malter