Posted on September, 19 2024

A large coalition of civil society and animal welfare organisations is calling on EU Member States [1] to reject the European Commission’s proposal to downgrade wolf protection under the Bern Convention. Instead, the coalition is calling for increased efforts to promote coexistence with large carnivores including preventive measures, and to safeguard decades of conservation success.

As EU Member States must decide on the European Commission's politically motivated proposal, a large coalition of civil society organisations and close to 300,000 Europeans are calling on the EU to:

1. Promote coexistence: strengthen preventive measures such as the use of fences and sheep dogs and make them more accessible to farmers.
2. Enforce protection: Ensure that illegal wolf hunting is eradicated and uphold the EU's Habitats Directive.
3. Raise awareness: Provide science-based education on the ecological and socio-economic benefits of wolves.
4. Respect science: Base any changes to wolf protection on rigorous data, not political pressure.

Notes to editors:

[1] Link to the full statement

[2] On International Wolf Day (13 August), Avaaz launched a petition calling on the Environment Ministers of the EU Member States to ensure that wolves remain under strict protection.

[3] At the end of 2023, nearly 300 NGOs signed a joint letter urging the President of the European Commission to maintain existing protections for wolves across Europe. “Unless there is substantial new science-based evidence gathered by the European Commission services, we believe the science and public opinion are clear: the modification of the protection status of the wolf – either under the EU law or the Bern Convention – is not justified,” they said.