Why will it soon be easier to hunt wolves in the EU?

Brussels (enr) – In 1992, the European Economic Community (now the EU) adopted the Habitats Directive. It has been the cornerstone of EU biodiversity policy and under it, wolves were listed as strictly protected.

This strict protection status has been a conservation success as the wolf population rebounded and now stands at over 20,000, according to the European Commission.

But the surge has not been without its challenges. Large carnivores roaming in areas where people are not used to their presence or how to deal with them can be difficult to manage.

At the end of last year, the Bern Convention altered the wolves’ protection which paved the way for the EU to change its rules too.

The final nail in the coffin came this month when the European Parliament gave its approval to downlisting the wolf’s protection, following a 2023 proposal by the European Commission.

Experts and political activists have criticised the change to wolves’ protection status, as well as the political process leading up to it and the way science was quoted along the way.

The European Newsroom explored how the change came about and spoke to Prof. John Linnell of the University of Inland Norway and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research to measure science against politics.