According to the Austrian farmers’ association, the species is no longer threatened with extinction. In the fall of 2022, Tirol had granted permission to shoot a wolf in twenty individual cases. After protests, an administrative court decided to refer legal questions about the interpretation of the Habitats Directive to the European Court of Justice.
There are more than 20,000 wolves in the European Union. The current stricter rules only allow, in exceptional cases, the hunting of a specific 'problem wolf.' If Austria wishes to deviate from this, the Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive must first be amended, the judges note.
An exception to the current ban aimed at preventing economic damage can only be allowed if the wolf population is in a favorable conservation status, which is not the case in Austria, according to the court in Luxembourg:
In response to the ruling, the Tyrolean Minister of Agriculture, Josef Geisler, stated that the decision has no immediate consequences but also provides no relaxation. He emphasized that the hunting rules were followed and that, despite strict protection, harmful and risky wolves can still be removed.
Geisler urges the European Commission and the European Parliament to lower the protection status of wolves. He asserts that the wolf is no longer threatened with extinction and that the current regulations are not appropriate for the situation in Tirol. According to him, the wolf should be managed like any other wild animal.
Lawyer Jochen Schumacher from the Institute for Nature and Conservation in Tübingen sees the implications of the ruling extending beyond Austria. He emphasizes that now it must be determined for every individual mountain and alpine pasture whether protection of grazing livestock by means of shepherds or fencing is possible. According to him, the current practice of categorically designating all mountains and alpine pastures across Europe as ‘unprotectable’ is not consistent with the Habitats Directive.
The Austrian Minister of Agriculture, Norbert Totschnig, warned that wolves are becoming less afraid of humans and are increasingly sighted in residential areas. Totschnig urges the EU to lower the wolf’s protection status in order to protect people and farm animals.
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