by N. Peter Kramer
Although experts had warned that the EU’s bid to change the protection level of wolves was rounded in prejudices rather than scientific evidence, the members of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats approved the bid to modify the status of wolves from a ‘strictly protected’ to a ‘protected’ species. This clears the way for the EU to modify the Habitats Directive and make it easier for national authorities to grant derogations to kill wolves deemed to pose a threat to farmers’ livestock. It is a personal victory for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who campaigned to get this proposal through EU governments and whose pet pony Dolly was killed by a wolf in 2022. She welcomed the outcome, saying it was ‘important news for our rural communities and farmers’.
It is a major win for farmers who want more freedom to shoot animals that threaten their livestock. Hunters cheered the decision. ‘This presents an opportunity for the Habitats Directive to accommodate this conservation success’, said Laurens Hoedemaker, President of the European Hunters Federation.
Conservationists on the other hand are not happy. Lea Badoz, wildlife program officer at Eurogroup for Animals, said the move was turning the large carnivore into EU policymakers ‘latest political pawn’ arguing that ‘downgrading protection will not solve the challenges of coexistence nor help farmers’. Sabien Leemans, senior biodiversity policy officer at WWF European Policy Office, also condemned the decision, saying it ‘puts decades of conservation efforts at risk’. The change of protection status needs to be enacted into EU law to be effective requires modifying the EU Habitats Directive. Opening this directive could have ‘potential negative consequences far beyond the wolf’, Leemans said. We will be watching this process closely and calling on policymakers to put science back into the debate’.
