Wolves across Europe are set to lose their “strictly protected” status. The move is seen as a win for farmers concerned about loss of livestock, but conservationists warn that removing protections will jeopardize stable wolf populations. At a recent meeting of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, EU countries voted to adopt a proposal that will move wolves from “strictly protected” to “protected” status. The one-word change lowers the threshold for when wolves can be culled. According to the European Commission, which proposed the status downgrade, “The concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger especially for livestock. To manage critical wolf concentrations more actively, local authorities have been asking for more flexibility,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a press release. Von der Leyen’s pony was killed by a wolf in 2022; she has since been focused on downgrading wolf protection in a way that European diplomats describe as “’strange,’ ‘bizarre,’ ‘puzzling,’ and definitely ‘pushy,’” Politico reports. Researchers find culling wolves can actually lead to more livestock predation. A 2014 study in the American West found a 4-6% increase in sheep and cattle loss associated with culling wolves. The likely reason is that wolves hunt in packs but when packs are diminished, those left behind have a harder time hunting wild animals and instead target livestock, which are easier to get. “Downlisting wolves won’t solve the challenges faced by rural communities, but it sets a…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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