Neos Marmaras: New Video of Jackal or Wolf at Beach
A woman spotted an animal on a Neos Marmaras beach at night and thought it was a dog. The video comes five days after an attack on a Serbian boy (2) and man (46), whose DNA is being tested.
New nighttime footage of a wild animal on a beach in the Greek town of Neos Marmaras has reopened questions about the safety of Serbian tourists in Halkidiki. The video was filmed just days after an attack on a Serbian boy (2) and a 46 year old man, both injured by a wild animal in the same area, while a DNA sample from one of the victims is still being analyzed at a laboratory in Thessaloniki.
What the New Footage Shows
According to the Greek outlet halkidikinews.gr, a woman came across the animal on Sunday at around 2am, near the sports field section of the beach, as she headed out for a night swim after finishing her shift. The animal came within a few steps of her, and she initially thought it was a dog. Unlike the earlier incidents, this encounter did not turn into an attack, and the woman was able to walk away unharmed.
She described her uncertainty about the animal’s species to Greek media:
“I can’t tell whether it’s a wolf or a jackal.”
Is It the Same Animal
Experts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have no answer to that question yet. A DNA sample taken from one of the victims was sent to the university’s genetics laboratory in the Department of Biology, where researchers are trying to determine whether the attacker was a jackal or a wolf, and whether it has any genetic link to the wolf that attacked a five year old girl in the same area in September 2025. So far there is no confirmation that the animal in the new footage is the one involved in the attacks on the Serbian tourists.
Two Incidents in a Matter of Days
Around September 16, a two year old boy from Serbia suffered injuries to his head and back and was treated at Hippokratio University Hospital in Thessaloniki, where he also received a rabies vaccine in line with medical protocol. A few days later, in the same town, the animal bit a 46 year old man, also from Serbia, on the neck; he received first aid at a hospital in Polygyros before being released for treatment at home.
Greece has officially been free of recorded rabies cases since May 2014, which offers some reassurance to the tourists who gather in Halkidiki, but doctors still advise reporting and examining every bite or scratch from a wild animal.
What Tourists Are Being Told
Local authorities are repeating the guidance issued after the first attack: avoid approaching wild animals, do not photograph them at close range, do not leave food or waste outside designated containers, and take extra care at night and in the early morning hours, especially in secluded parts of the beach. The new footage, even though it did not end in an attack this time, shows that the animal is still moving close to tourists, on the same stretch of coast where injuries were reported earlier.
