Conservation groups have condemned the decision by the EU to adopt a European Commission proposal to weaken the legal protection of the continent's wolf population, which will make it easier to shoot the animals.
A coalition of 300 European wildlife and environmental groups claim that the move is a major blow to science and biodiversity and that the change will open the door to wolf culling, which they see as the wrong solution to the issue of livestock predation by wolves.
Instead, the groups say that a policy of co-existence with wolves and other large carnivores should be followed with preventive measures such as guard dogs and fencing to protect livestock.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is accused by conservation groups of waging a personal vendetta against wolves by using her political influence to change EU legislation through backdoor deals after a wolf killed her family's pony Dolly in Germany in 2022.
Sofie Ruysschaert from BirdLife Europe says: “By taking aim at the wolf, Europe has shot itself in the foot. By catering to populistic scaremongering campaigns and abandoning facts and pragmatic solutions, the EU further undermines European democracy and cohesion.”
In response a European Commission spokesperson says: “Adapting the protection status (of the wolf) will be an important step to address the challenges posed by the increasing wolf population, whilst keeping the overall objective to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status for the species.”
However Sabien Leemans from WWF Europe believes that the EU's decision to downgrade the wolf's protection status sends a "disastrous and shameful signal" from Europe:
“How can we ask other regions to protect their biodiversity and live with species like tigers, lions, or elephants, when we cannot live together with the wolf?” says Leemans.
“The message coming from the EU today is truly embarrassing: we preach to the world about conservation while dismantling one of our biggest conservation successes in decades.”
It is now expected that the December meeting of the Bern Convention will vote to formally lower the wolf's protection status, however a number of administrative hurdles still need to be crossed before the change becomes EU law.
Europe's wolves have bounced back from near extinction 100 years ago with their population in the EU estimated to be around 20,300.
Whilst wolves kill at least 65,000 sheep and goats every year across the EU, this figure represents just 0.065 percent of the EU’s total sheep population.
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