The EuGH confirms the prohibition of wolf hunting
The Tyrolean State Government allows the shooting of a wolf. Animal rights activists take to the barricades, the whole thing goes to court. In turn, this demands clarification from the European Court of Justice. And it emphasizes the strict protection of animals.
Wolves may no longer be hunted in Austria. The corresponding ban is in effect, as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg ruled. The Regional Administrative Court of Tyrol had turned to the ECJ after the Tyrolean State Government had granted permission for the killing of a wolf temporarily. This wolf had previously killed 20 sheep.
Several animal welfare and environmental organizations challenged the decision of the Tyrolean Government before the Regional Administrative Court. This court asked the ECJ whether the hunting ban still applied and in what cases exceptions were possible. The ECJ examined the question and now declares that its examination has yielded nothing that speaks against strict protection.
The Austrian government itself admitted that the wolf population in Austria is not in a good condition, it continued. However, only in such cases can exceptions be made. Austria, when it joined the European Union in 1995, did not express reservations about the strict protection of wolves in the so-called Habitats Directive, the ECJ explained.
Strict boundaries for exceptions
If the Austrian government now believes that the strict protection should be lifted, it can file an infringement procedure - but it has not done so. The ECJ also emphasized that the EU is bound by the Bern Convention, a multilateral treaty from 1979. This sees a strict protection for wolves.
The European judges further defined in their judgment in what cases Austria's government may grant an exception from the wolf hunting ban: Namely, when the population of the animals is in a favorable conservation status both nationally, on a local level in Tyrol, and transnationally. However, this is not the case.
An exception regulation should not impair the status, it was further stated. Only then may a shooting be authorized if it can be widely ensured that a specific wolf killed grazing animals. In the concrete case, now the Tyrolean Regional Administrative Court must judge. It is bound by the ECJ's decision.
Following the ECJ's ruling, wolf hunting is now prohibited throughout Austria. Despite concerns about the wolf population's condition, the Austrian government has not initiated an infringement procedure to challenge this strict protection. Additionally, European judges have set strict boundaries for any potential exceptions to the wolf hunting ban, requiring proof that the wolf population is in a favorable conservation status at both national, local, and transnational levels, and ensuring that any authorized killing does not negatively impact the species' overall status.
