Wolf protection in danger! EU lowers status - hunters cheer, conservationists outraged!

Wolf protection in danger! EU lowers status - hunters cheer, conservationists outraged!

Vienna, Österreich - The protection status of the wolves in Europe is downgraded from "strictly protected" to "protected". This decisive change was decided on Tuesday by the signatory states of the Bern Convention in Strasbourg, as the Council of Europe announced. The advance to reduce protection status came from the EU, which is now able to make further changes in the Flora-Fauna-Habitat guideline (FFH guideline). Agriculture Minister Norbert Tettschnig (ÖVP) was pleased with this step and referred to him as "important milestone for a lighter regulation of the wolf." According to the man, this step takes place, since the wolf in Europe is no longer threatened with extinction and increasingly increasingly increasing in different regions, which is what legitimate concerns about his interactions with people, as in a report by Wiener Zeitung is highlighted.

Details on the decision and reactions

The decision was made with a two-thirds majority and enables the EU countries more flexibility in regulating wolf populations. However, the Council of Europe emphasizes that the overall population of the wolves must not be endangered. The change comes into force three months after the decision, in which a third of the signatory states could theoretically take a veto, but this is considered unlikely. Comfortable and other Austrian politicians emphasize that the downgrading is necessary to ensure security in rural areas, while the advancement is perceived by various animal welfare organizations and surveys, according to the Meinverzirk , which illuminates the opinions of many Austrians who advocate strict protection status for wolves.

The increasing wolf population and its return to areas where it no longer occurred for a long time leads to conflicts and different views in the population. A survey by animal welfare Austria shows that 76 percent of those surveyed have a positive attitude towards wolves and perceive the return as an enrichment. This is in contrast to the political endeavors to loosen wolf protection and provides further impulses for debate about the management of the wolf population in Europe.