In a room in the visitor center of the Hoge Veluwe National Park, the Finnish Mari Lyly speaks. Woodlands and multi-coloured heathland extend outside the building. Lyly talks to an international group about an animal that lives in those forests and on that heath. The wolf.
Finland is large and has many forests, ideal for large carnivores, says Lyly, who works at the Finnish Wildlife Agency. Her audience today consists of policy makers and experts from Germany, France, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, among others. The province of Gelderland invited them to exchange knowledge about biodiversity, nature conservation and large carnivores, especially the wolf, and how to live together with this animal.
Gelderland has been struggling with ‘the wolf’ for a few years now. Seven of the nine packs in the Netherlands live in that province. One pack has five to nine wolves. And the number is growing. According to researchers from Wageningen University, the Netherlands can handle a maximum of 56 packs. It is a sign that the wolf is doing well here, the scientists say.
Others find that less favorable. Unprotected livestock, especially sheep, are not always safe from the predator. Many farmers have therefore turned against the wolf. Rural residents say they are becoming increasingly afraid of the animal. Thrill seekers feed wolves hamburgers and frikandels to lure them closer. As a result, there is still one non-shy wolf walking around in Ermelo. Attempts by the province to deter these types of wolves with a paintball gun always fail in court. Because has the province tried to stop feeding?
Gelderland wants to know how other countries live with the wolf. That’s what the presentations today are about. The press is only welcome at the Finnish presentation. Although the meeting is emphatically not political, the timing is interesting. This year the European Council will vote on a proposal to downgrade the protected status of the wolf in the Bern Treaty from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’. If this is adopted, it will be easier for the new Dutch cabinet to amend national laws about the wolf. And then decline comes into the picture.
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Bears
“In Finland, 8 percent of the land area is agricultural and only 5 percent built,” says Lyly. Despite all that space, many Finns also fear the wolf. “Although Finland has relatively ‘few’ wolves,” says Lyly. About 250, while there are more than 1,500 bears in the country.
In every EU country, the aim is to achieve a favorable conservation status, or a ‘vital wolf population’, because of biodiversity. Finland is not there yet and reaching it will be made more difficult if people do not want to live together with wolves. To promote this coexistence, a number of Finnish institutions set up a project in 2019 that aims to prevent and compensate for damage to livestock and dogs. There is 5.5 million euros for this. “And we distribute scientific information on social media,” says Lyly. By having trained volunteers help collect DNA from wolves, people become more involved.
Jindriska Jelínkova works in the Czech Republic for a government body that manages nature reserves. “The countries present have similar experiences with the wolf. He eats cattle and that causes conflict.” The French Simon Woodsworth also sees this. He works at the Agence Régionale de la Biodiversité. “Fear seems to occur in every country, especially in rural areas. In urban environments people are happy with the wolf.” What he also sees: nature organizations trying to protect wolves, while some farmers want to ‘manage’ them.
Jelínkova would like to see European countries monitor the wolf together. Each country now makes its own measurements. The Czech Republic, Germany and Poland could analyze their populations together, says Jelínkova. “Viewing the conservation status of the wolf within the borders of one country is biological nonsense.”
The wolf is used as a political tool
Those present emphatically do not speak out politically. Yet the wolf is political. “He becomes like a political one tool used for all kinds of purposes,” says Lyly. “We notice this in our local meetings.”
The Council for Animal Affairs concluded the same in May. The ‘wolf’ is used as a symbol in images of the perceived separation between city and countryside. The main question of the research forms was already difficult: (how) can we live together with the wolf? Consciously using brackets, “that gives people space to think about whether living together with wolves is even possible.”
In France the wolf returned in 1992. The country applied for an exemption to be able to kill about 20 percent of the population, provided the predators attack livestock. In 2022, 150 wolves were killed out of more than a thousand in the country, says Simon Woodsworth. This is critical because the number of wolves in France will decrease in 2023.
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Reality
The Czech Republic and the Netherlands are watching France with interest. Woodsworth notices that political reality is shifting. It is no longer unthinkable that the wolf’s protected status will be lowered. The Netherlands will in any case vote in favor in the Council of Ministers, according to outgoing nature minister Christianne van der Wal (VVD). Germany and Finland also plan to do so.
Gelderland deputy Harold Zoet (BBB) is happy with it. He has been lobbying for the reduction since his appointment. “I think we have reached the maximum number of wolves in the Netherlands, given the damage to livestock,” he says. In 2022, wolves killed 1,043 animals, in 2023 1,121. The damage appears to be stabilizing as the number of wolves increased.
The protected status will be lowered, the Czech Jelínkova also thinks. “And why not? As long as the favorable conservation status has been achieved.” But there is still discussion about that. The European Commission believes that the wolf population is stable, scientists and conservationists are critical. Ten nature organizations wrote in a letter last month that there is no scientific basis for reduction. “In six of the seven biogeographical zones, favorable conservation status has not been achieved.”
Shooting wolves has not been proven effective in reducing attacks on livestock. Woodsworth knows that too. “No one is happy with the situation in France. NGOs believe that too many wolves are being shot, farmers call the criteria for culling too restrictive.” However, fewer cattle are being killed in France. “Because in addition to management, we also take preventive protection measures,” says Woodsworth. “The important thing when it comes to wolves: you have to rationalize it. Emotions should not play a role.”
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