The majority of EU member states agreed on Wednesday to change the status of wolves. Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) speaks of a “milestone” in which “expertise has triumphed over ideology”.
The protection status of wolves should be reduced from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’. This could make it easier to take photographs, for example. The representatives of the 27 EU countries in the Commission in Brussels agreed on Wednesday. The decision will be formally approved by the EU Competition Council on Thursday. The European Commission made the proposal in December.
Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) welcomed the new protected status of the wolf. “Today we have reached a milestone. Expertise has triumphed over ideology,” he said in a broadcast.
Here you see a graph about the distribution of wolves in Austria.
“No longer threatened with extinction”
The wolf is no longer threatened with extinction in Europe and is now reproducing at a rate of 30 percent per year. On Wednesday, approval was given by, among others, the state governments of Lower Austria and Salzburg, the Farmers’ Association and the Chamber of Agriculture.
Nature and animal protection organizations such as the WWF, which speaks of a “wrong signal”, also express criticism. “As native wild animals and predators, wolves make a natural contribution to biodiversity. They prevent the spread of diseases and ideally also strengthen the important protective forests because they can reduce the excessive wild populations,” says WWF biologist Christian Pichler in a press release.
If the decision on reduced protection status is confirmed by the Council of Ministers, the EU can submit a request for amendment.
Source: Krone
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