A domesticated kangaroo is "probably dead" after being snatched by a wolf from a garden in Balen, northeast Belgium.

Wolf expert Jan Loos told AFP that he was called to the property by the owners. "I found wolf prints, so it's quite sure it's a wolf," Loos said. He believes the missing kangaroo was probably eaten "as a Christmas meal" by the unidentified wolf.

Another of the owners' kangaroos was bitten on the ear, but managed to survive and is believed to be in otherwise good health.

Loos, the director of Belgian wolf and wildlife centre Landschap, said "Normally a wolf eats deer and wild boar and sometimes sheep," making this incident bizarre.

According to local news in Belgium, wolves are suspected to have been behind the deaths of several sheep and alpacas in the northeast of the country this year. The Brussels Times says wolves are on the rise in Belgium. Naya and August, two known wolves in the north-eastern region, are thought to be responsible for several attacks. Loos suspected August was also the kangaroo snatcher.

Conservation organisation Rewilding Europe says wolves are making a comeback in Europe, spreading as far west as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In January 2018, Naya became the first wolf seen in Belgium for 200 years.