The wolf was practically extinct in the middle of the last century over most of the European continent, with the exception of areas in the far south and east.
In the 1970s, it became a goal for European countries to preserve the wolf, and thanks to this conservation work, the wolf has slowly but surely re-established itself.
In 2023, there were breeding packs of wolves in 23 countries in the EU, with a total population estimated at around 20,300 animals. The increase in the number of animals has also led to the initially shy wolf coming into contact with people more often.
As in Norway, the wolf’s presence triggers heated debate in the EU.
Pony killed by wolf
In 2022, it became a major media issue when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lost her beloved pony Dolly in a wolf attack. The wolf had entered the pony’s enclosure on von der Leyen’s estate in northern Germany.
– The number of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for animal herds – and perhaps also for people. I encourage local and national authorities to take action where necessary. Current EU legislation already enables them to do so, von der Leyen stated a few months after the wolf attack.
She insists it’s not a personal vendetta, but she undoubtedly has the wolf in her sights.
The European Commission has asked EU member states to revise the wolves’ conservation status and proposed that they should take it from “strictly protected” to just “protected”. It could allow wolf hunting to resume – albeit under strict regulation.
The wolf received the designation “strictly protected” species under the Bern Convention from 1979.
French wolves
France is one of several countries that have challenges in dealing with the increase in the wolf population.
The wolves had disappeared in the country in the 1930s, but began to return in the 1990s.
The estimated number of wolves in France last year was just over a thousand, down 9 percent from 2022. Wolves can be killed to protect livestock, but only under very special circumstances.
Around 20 percent of France’s wolves are killed each year, and the authorities now want to simplify the procedures for taking out animals.
This has led conservationists to fear that the wolf could once again become an endangered species.
Security measures for livestock
– If we weaken protection, it will be possible to hunt wolves without good justification, says Guillaume Chapron, researcher at Sweden’s University of Agriculture, who believes that this could open the door to uncontrolled hunting.
Luigi Boitani, professor of zoology at the University of Rome, believes that one must rather prevent wolf attacks through security measures for livestock.
– Like electric fences and guard dogs, he points out.
Boitani points out that other animals cause far more costly damage than wolves.
In France, compensation for damage caused by wolves amounted to four million euros in 2022 – compared to €65 million for damage caused by wild boar and deer.
Chapron emphasizes that it was the protection of the wolf and the growing awareness of the environment and nature conservation that made it possible for the animal to reclaim the continent.
One of the few success stories
– The rescue of the wolf is a success story, and we don’t have many conservation success stories, he adds
The wolf is a common motif in ancient mythology, and in many traditional children’s fairy tales the wolf is portrayed as a threatening creature.
– The wolf has been and remains an object of fascination for people, says Nicolas Lescureux, who studies relationships between people and animals at France’s scientific research center CNRS.
He points to the predator’s role in old legends and mythologies.
– The close relationship between humans and wolves goes back a long way since our current dogs originate from populations of wolves – this is the oldest form of domestication of animals, says Lescureux.
Domestication involves adapting animals to a human environment.
Domestic animals complicated
This relationship undoubtedly became more complicated when we got the domestication of livestock such as sheep, goats, cattle and pigs around 10,000 years ago, he adds.
Boitani believes it is important to try to avoid fundamentalist attitudes when society has to deal with the wolf issue.
– The wolf is neither a saint, a mythical animal nor a devil, he adds.
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2024-07-25 11:07:10
