Wolves lose EU protection, paving the way for culling

The first snow of winter has fallen in Sanmartin, a village in the Carpathian mountains of eastern Romania.

Shepherd József Rácz and his sons raise 500 ewes on high pastures here. It’s a tough life: when he’s not worrying about milking his sheep, which he does three times a day, he’s worried about protecting them from predators.

Every year, József lost five or six of his herds to a wolf or a bear. That’s why he has 17 dogs.

“A good dog is the best tool a shepherd has to protect his flock at night and during the day,” said the farmer.

On Tuesday, 45 years of strict protection of the gray wolf in Europe ended, after conservation officials approved EU measures to downgrade the animal’s protection status.

This news means that the gray wolf will be moved from Appendix II (strictly protected) to Appendix III (protected) of the Bern Convention.

This will remove many of the protections that have allowed the animals to thrive in Europe and mean each EU country will be able to set annual wolf kill quotas.

The Commission argues that the number of wolves in the EU has almost doubled, from 11,000 in 2012 to more than 20,000 today, and that they have caused too much damage to livestock.

However, wildlife campaigners say improved protection methods, including trained sheepdogs, would be a better solution than removing protections. guard. They say wolves have decimated deer and wild boar populations, destroying trees and crops. Wolves also prevent the spread of disease by eating sick animals.

In the town of Baile Tusnad, in a valley near József’s village, wildlife experts recently met to discuss large carnivores. Most, though not all, oppose wolf and bear hunting.

Michal Haring, a biologist from Slovakia, said: “African swine fever is spreading across Europe and wolves are a very good ‘doctor’ in stopping the disease. The wolf cannot catch it.”

Another argument against shooting wolves is that they hunt in packs of five to eight animals, usually a pair and their young. If older wolves are shot, the herd will fragment, making it harder for them to catch deer and wild boar.

“Individual wolves are more likely to attack sheep and other domesticated animals,” Haring explained.

Campaigners also point to one EU 2023 reportwhich claims that only around 50,000 of the 68 million sheep and goats in Europe are killed by wolves each year – 0.065% of the total – and adds that the overall impact of wolves on livestock in the EU is “ very small”.

Furthermore, it says there have been no fatal wolf attacks on humans in the past 40 years.

“If we expect countries like India or Indonesia to protect their tigers,” said Laurent Schley, head of the Luxembourg government’s Wildlife Department, “and Africans to protect their lions and elephants , then we, relatively wealthy Europeans, should be willing to accept some wolf things.” Luxembourg is one of the few Western European countries that has never seen a wolf, Mr Schley believes it is only a matter of time.

“We have very high densities of deer and wild boar, so there are conditions for wolves to live.

“Of course, if individual wolves or packs start killing too many livestock or showing aggression towards humans, we will have to draw the line. Human safety always comes first.”

But back on the mountainside, József says wolves are dangerous because “they are intelligent animals.” He advocates tougher legal measures to eradicate predators.

The bears approached the forest, stepped on tree branches and warned his dogs, József said: if they broke into the wicker enclosure where his cattle stayed at night, they would only caught an animal.

However, if a pack of wolves rushes in, they can kill dozens of sheep at once.

Last year, József’s favorite dog, Moody, was killed by wolves in broad daylight as they moved from one pasture to another. All they found was his bloody skin.

József said that the more wolves there are, the more likely they are to eat his sheep.

And it takes a long time to train a dog well.