European Union gives green light for reduced wolf protection

The proposal still needs to be approved within the Bern Convention on the Conservation of Wild Animals, before any possible amendment to European legislation.

The decision goes in the direction of the breeders, despite the outcry from environmental associations. The Member States of the European Union gave their green light, on Wednesday, September 25, to lower the protection status of the wolf. The EU wants to move from “strict protection” to “simple protection”, which would make it easier to reduce the wolf population when it is deemed too large in a region, via the allocation of hunting quotas.

The proposal received a qualified majority in Brussels, at a meeting of the permanent representatives of the member states to the Union. Among them, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, a member of the Green party, overcame her reservations: “The wolf population has grown so much in recent years that this decision” East “necessary for breeders”she assumed.

However, this is only a step: the proposal still needs to be approved within the Bern Convention on the Conservation of Wild Animals, before any possible amendment to European legislation.

While the species had been almost eradicated in the 19th century, the wolf population is increasing again within the Union, with around 20,300 individuals in 2023, in 23 countries. This recovery is not without its problems, mainly because of attacks on livestock, giving rise to sometimes heated positions between supporters and opponents of the carnivore.

In autumn 2023, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who herself lost a pony killed by a wolf on her family property in northern Germany, called for lowering the level of protection for the animal.

Environmental associations have repeatedly called for the current status to be maintained. Relaxing the rules is a “politically motivated proposal that is not at all based on science”accuses Sabien Leemans, responsible for biodiversity at the NGO WWF. “The main difference is that it would allow wolf populations to be hunted.”

Environmentalists call for solutions “already existing cohabitation”, such as protecting herds with guard dogs, fences, as well as the deployment of volunteers to monitor herds at night.