Letter comes in the wake of wolf culling operations in Switzerland; a cull was also carried out in Sweden earlier this year
An adult wolf with pups. Photo: iStock Some 300 environmental and animal protection organisations have written to the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, demanding that existing legal protections for wolves in Europe be upheld and enforced consistently across the European Union’s member states.
The organisations made the demand in an open letter issued on December 18, 2023. Calling the wolf a part of the Continent’s natural heritage, the organisations further demanded the EC to “promote uptake of coexistence measures between wolves and local communities since many of those opportunities are under-utilised by the Member States”.
The letter also called on von der Leyen to “support initiatives that provide accurate, science-based information about wolves to the public”.
The letter has been written in response to the EC’s commitment to “decide on a proposal to modify, where appropriate, the status of protection of the wolf within the EU and to update the legal framework, to introduce, where necessary, further flexibility” by the end of the year.
“It is of significant concern that a policy decision on such a crucial issue is being prepared in an untransparent manner. Moreover, it is based on an irregular consultation process that was launched by the Commission’s press release on ‘Wolves in Europe’ on 4th September 2023, which included misleading information regarding wolves. Our concerns about this were outlined to you in our letter dated 11 September 2023,” Patrick ten Brink, secretary-general of the European Environmental Bureau, said in the letter.
Ten Brink added that “any decision to change the protection status of wolves must be based on reliable scientific data, according to the provisions of the relevant legislation, and not on anecdotal evidence submitted through a non-transparent and irregular consultation process”.
Discussion of the issue has so far been dominated largely by farming industry and hunting interest representatives, he claimed. These groups are eager to position themselves as speaking on behalf of rural communities, he added.
However, there is actually a lot of support among rural European communities for the strict protection of wolves in the EU, claimed ten Brink.
He added that this support was evident “in an independent survey, commissioned by several animal protection organisations, which was carried out in November 2023 in 10 Member States”.
The science and public opinion were clear, unless there was substantial new science-based evidence gathered by the EC services, noted ten Brink: “The modification of the protection status of the wolf — either under the EU law or the Bern Convention — is not justified.”
“Protecting wolves in Europe is not only a matter of ecological significance, but also a reflection of our commitment to biodiversity conservation and the values of coexistence and tolerance. Wolves are an integral part of Europe’s natural heritage, playing a vital role in maintaining ecosystem balance and biodiversity, and the return of the wolf to parts of Europe where the species had previously been extirpated is a considerable conservation success that must not be jeopardized,” Brink concluded.
The gray wolf, once Europe’s apex predator along with the brown bear and the lynx, has been largely extirpated throughout the Continent. The animal has long been perceived to be a threat to livestock.
But wolves have been staging a comeback across Europe on the back of conservation efforts and bans on hunting.
An article in the portal The Conversation this October claimed that the species has expanded its range on the Continent by more than 25 per cent in the past decade alone.
It also noted that von der Leyen had made a controversial statement regarding wolves the month before. “The concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans. I urge local and national authorities to take action where necessary,” she had said.
Meanwhile, the central European country of Switzerland (though not a part of the EU) has seen heated debate and discussion as well as developments in December regarding wolf culls.
The Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has filed an appeal in mid-December with the Federal Administrative Court in order to resume the shooting of wolf packs in Switzerland.
In early December, “the Swiss court blocked the culling of three wolf packs in canton Valais in southern Switzerland following an appeal by environmental groups,” the website Swissinfo noted.
“The suspensive effect of appeals against shooting authorisations has also given wolves in canton Graubünden a reprieve,” the Swissinfo piece added.
Eight wolves in canton Graubünden and 14 in canton Valais have already been shot, according to the latest count, the article said.
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