European Wolves

[Shadow]

(10-16-2019, 11:18 PM)Sully Wrote: France has wolves in its sights as it demands Brussels' blessing to shoot more 

France has demanded Brussels allows French farmers to shoot more wolves, as the population of the resurgent species surges across Europe. 
Denmark, Estonia, Italy and Latvia also demanded extra flexibility in Brussels’ latest guidance on the protection of species in the EU’s Habitats Directive, according to meeting documents obtained by The Telegraph. 
European Commission officials were said to be nonplussed by the Paris-led demand made at a meeting of agricultural ministers on Monday. 
Diplomatic sources said the commission pointed to lucrative subsidies in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which can help farmers buy fencing to keep wolves out. 

The intervention was made the week after the EU’s top court upheld the strict protection that EU law offers to endangered species, such as wolves, in a ruling that will annul wolf hunting permits granted in Finland. 
European Parliament research puts the number of wild wolves in the EU at 17,000, which is credited in part to the tough protection rules imposed by Brussels. 
The countries used the term “wolf management” as a euphemism for the culling of the predator, whose numbers have grown across the continent. 
“They basically want to be allowed to shoot more wolves,” one EU diplomat said.
In France, for example, farmers have claimed wolves are putting the production of Roquefort cheese at risk.  Roquefort cheese can only be so named if the sheep that provide the milk are allowed to graze freely, exposing them to the risk of attack. 

The animals were posing an increasing threat to farming communities and livelihoods, the countries’ claimed. The wolf population was “a huge challenge to member states”.  

Farmers already made a huge contribution to protecting biodiversity, the anti-wolf contingent said, pointing to farming’s economic and “cultural” impact.
The countries expressed “deep concern” about new commission guidance on “protection of species of community interest” such as wolves. 
“These changes threaten the possibilities for Member States to adequately manage wolf populations,” the bloc of agricultural minister said. 
“Additional flexibility is clearly needed for Member States so that they adapt their practices to local realities and fully address social, cultural and economic issues.”
They called for improved, scientific monitoring of wolf populations to allow for the euphemistically termed “proactive management of the matter.”
Finally they demanded Brussels draft a new proposal which would allow “ a comprehensive and flexible approach on this crucial issue.'' 
Wolves have spread to every country in continental Europe, with Belgium, the last country to see the return of the wolf, welcoming “Naya” a she-wolf in January 2018. 
In September conservationists accused Belgian hunters of killing Naya, who was pregnant and monitored by environmentalists, after she went missing in May. Her mate is now exhibiting signs of being a lone wolf once more. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10...ing-shoot/

That article gives a bit wrong picture about situation in Finland. Wolves are hunted here mainly as before also after that decision. That ruling was about certain reason to hunt wolves and now in future there has to be more reasoning when that kind of permissions are granted. Wolves have been and will be hunted in Finland every year in some level, but total number of wolves will grow from current. That article might make it look like that no hunting at all here and in reality that ruling has minimal effect to situation. It´s more about fine adjustment than anything else what comes to reasoning behind granted permissions to hunt. Reply