Survey: 68 percent want strict wolf protection
These survey results paint a comprehensive picture of public opinion in rural areas in Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Denmark and Sweden.
68% in favour of strict wolf protection
Predators, including wolves, should remain strictly protected in the EU and have a right to coexist with humans, according to the overwhelming majority of rural residents in ten EU member states.
The survey published in November 2023 shows that many rural residents support the protection of wolves and other predators: 68% are convinced that they should be strictly protected, and more than two thirds (72%) agree that they have a right to coexistence.
«The return of wolves to Europe is a cause for celebration, not fear. The results of this survey clearly show that the majority of people living near wolves support their protected status and are willing to coexist with them.»
Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals
Recreational hunting lobby feels poorly represented
The agricultural and recreational hunting lobby has repeatedly pushed to downgrade the protected status of wolves. Nevertheless, a very small proportion of respondents said they feel well represented by the interest groups of recreational hunters (12%) and agriculture (18%).
66% of respondents stated that decision-makers, including EU institutions, should prioritise the conservation of predators. 65% said that the killing of individual problematic predators should only occur when it can be demonstrated that adequate protective measures have been implemented and have failed. Wolves play a crucial role, among other things, in regulating prey populations, preventing overgrazing and ultimately contributing to healthier ecosystems.
Coexistence Instead of Culling
62% of respondents stated that they would feel safer if they better understood how wolves and bears behave and how to drive them away in the event of an encounter.
Instruments to prevent and compensate for the economic damage that wolves cause to livestock are in place, and in light of these findings, we call on the European Commission and other EU institutions to listen to the voice of rural communities, to maintain the strict protection status of wolf populations, and to continue implementing an ambitious Habitats Directive.
Dossier: The Wolf in Switzerland: Facts, Politics, and the Limits of Hunting
Participate: Petition your municipality for a tax remission on federal and cantonal taxes, citing the disastrous policies of Federal Councillor Albert Rösti (SVP) and the recently approved culling of wolves in Switzerland. You can download the template letter here: https://wildbeimwild.com/ein-appell-fuer-eine-veraenderung-in-der-schweiz/
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
