Brussels 25.09.2024 Anna van Densky This week hearing on wolf protection united Members of the European parliament and more than 300 Civil Society organisations who urge European Commission to drop the proposal to degrade the status of this majestic animal, and keep it as “strictly protected”. The event was chaired by MEP Anja Hazekamp from The Netherlands (GUE/NGL EP group), who previously in the explained the initiative of the Commission by personal vengeance of president Ursula von der Leyen, whose old pony Dolly was culled by a wolf. The explanation was offered during debates in the Chamber in Strasbourg.

The wolf became a “strictly protected” specie under the 1979 Bern Convention*. The text allows for the animal to be killed or captured only when it poses a threat to livestock, health or safety. The Commission’s proposal will significantly damage wolf’s population, destroy social structure of wolves packs, threaten the breeding period, nestling sites with cubs. (Video below: MEP @MichalWiezik)

Peaceful coexistence with large carnivores is possible, and beneficial. Raising awareness amongst citizens is key, by providing science-based education on the ecological and socio-economic benefits of wolves. The farmers can also strengthen preventive measures such as the use of fences and sheepdogs, which coincides with the interest of the majority in the rural communities.

According to the independent survey carried out in 10 EU member-states 72% of respondents support the concept of the co-existence with wolfs, and their rights to live along with humans; and 68% agree that wolves should be “strictly protected”.

*The Council of Europe’s Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (1979), or Bern Convention, was the first international treaty to protect both species and habitats and to bring countries together to decide how to act on nature conservation.

“According to media reports, there has been a lot of political pressure on Member States to accept the European Commission’s unscientific and politically motivated proposal. Wolves must remain strictly protected – not just for the sake of the species and science, but for the health of our ecosystems and the credibility of the European Union. If the EU wants to be a trusted ally of nature and a global leader, we must set the right example now” writes the statement of the ‘EU Group for Animals’ NGO. (https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/)

During the event the MEPs pointed to European values, and the status of animals as sentient beings, enshrined in Lisbon Treaty in Chapter XIII, and remined the European Commission of the strong support of the citizens the animal welfare receives. The wolf protection is a highly political issue, which distinguishes between democratic, and totalitarian inhumane systems which traditionally present wolf as a threat, encouraging its extermination. In the USSR more than two million wolves were exterminated in the most sadistic, and brutal way, by poison and traps, and this trend continues in Putin’s Russia.

The extermination of wolves was widely carried out in the Soviet Union and was part of the holistic system of Red terror as a universal Stalinist instrument for solving any political, social or economic problems. The danger of wolves was rooted in obscurantism, and superstitions, without any scientific evidence.

In the USSR wolves were blamed of many troubles in agriculture, covering human theft and embezzlement, and the homicide.

Russia, and Belarus continue these barbaric tradition, despite the wolf is listed in the IUCN Red Book, the European Red List, the List of Threatened Species in the Carpathians, and is protected by the Berne Convention and the CITES Convention. These two countries are the last European states where the wolf is still illegal, which is explained primarily by the inherited totalitarian mentality. The barbaric extermination of wolves is a national disgrace for these countries, and it is crucial for the EU to establish a clear border between the democracy, and totalitarianism in all endeavors, including wildlife.