The standing committee of the Berne Convention voted in favor of the EU proposal aimed at downgrading the wolf’s protection status from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’. It will come into effect on March 7 of the current year: 2025 and will allow this endangered species to be hunted and killed again in the Member States that benefit from it.
Spain will not be affected by this decision of the Council of Europe, which has reduced the protection of the wolf in the European Union, because this species has its own legislation in our country and It is included in the list of species with a special protection regime.
Stop killing wolves in Asturias
The environmentalists of Asturias have once again reported to the Public Prosecutor’s Office that someone hung 2 dead wolves at the beginning of the Senda del Arcediano in the council of Ponga, a new crime against a protected species, calling for those responsible to be prosecuted and end impunity for these crimes.
This is not the first time these brutal acts of violence have occurred: wolf heads on signs, squares, swimming pools and other public places, illegal killings, poaching, poisoning, setting fire to daycare center carsl, coercion and violence against houses, huts, cars, property or directly against people defending the right to the existence of natural fauna.
Acts of violence that enjoy alarming impunitylack of prosecution (the perpetrators are never located) and even justification by those in public office should safeguard the common interest of us and nature and set an example in defending impartiality and legality.
This only helps nourish the flame of growing violence, which is the absolute enemy of debate that should characterize a real democracy and the objectivity and scientific basis that should guide the functioning of the government and public administration in an exemplary manner. The wolf is a recovering species, it was on the brink of extinction and although its status or population threat category has improved, it is still not a non-threatened species and in need of protection.
All scientific research indicates that killing individuals does not reduce harmbut it then increases the damage unless a large percentage of the population is killed, threatening the viability of the species. All scientific reviews, and therefore also the guidelines of many countries, indicate that preventive measures must be taken to limit the damage.
Unfortunately, the Asturian government continues to stubbornly stick to the wrong strategy of killing wolves and ignores preventive measures. The longer one Asturian strategy based on killing wolves instead of preventive measuresthe more damage to livestock and the greater the social unrest there will be, if it is something that can be corrected. If you also support or justify those who practice violence to impose their prejudices, social peace itself is endangered.
Defending wolves is an ethical obligation
They demand from the Asturian government and public administration:
1) The reduction of damage caused by wolves must necessarily be based on taking protective and damage preventive measures as the main pillar. Related people and groups should help promote and spread this The government must adopt and internalize this as a fundamental basis for wolf management.promoting information campaigns and offering scientific-technical advice and appropriate financial support to promote their adoption.
2) Payment of compensation must be made quickly, adjusted to real pricesalways based on genetic verification of the authorship of the damage and subject to the establishment of protective and preventive damage measures.
3) If they exist, the cases in which they exist must be studied with scientific-technical rigor. taking protective and preventive measures against damage have not demonstrated the expected effectiveness, to improve their design and implementation. Only if there were cases where taking effective protective and preventive measures was not possible, could the removal of wolves be considered a justified measure, always referring to specific individuals and never by establishing quotas.
4) The establishment, management and granting of subsidies should be promoted (based on the criteria of transparency and scientific-technical accuracy) of “eco-coexistence stamps” for those activities that coexist with the wolf supporting the previous points and promoting coexistence in the face of enmity with the wolf.
5) That politicians, the government and public administration stop fueling the narrative of confrontation and hatred against the species and promoting its lack of protection, and instead carry out a real didactic and public responsibility task that promoting a conciliatory vision of nature and revaluing the value of nature.