Research wolf 'Andrea' shot in Carinthia

He was young, he was radio-collared, and his movements were tracked daily by scientists from the University of Udine. During the night of Monday, February 3rd, 2026, wolf 'Andrea' was shot in the Spittal an der Drau district in Carinthia. With him died not only an animal, but an ongoing research project worth around 250,000 euros was also abruptly terminated.

Wild beim Wild Editorial Team — February 15th, 2026

Andrea was a young male from the Friulian foothills.

He was captured in October 2024 by ecologist Stefano Filacorda, scientific director of the monitoring project at the University of Udine, and fitted with a GPS collar. Despite his young age, he already weighed 30 kilograms at the time. He originated from a wolf pack in the heavily populated region around Pordenone, an area where authorities had requested to follow the animal and understand its movements near settlements.

In autumn 2024, Andrea began his journey, following the Tagliamento River and crossing the border into Austria via Passo Pramollo. Since June 2025, he had been staying in the Mallnitz area, on the border between Carinthia and Salzburg. Filacorda explained to ORF at the time: "He provides us with a daily record of his movements. This allows us to see in detail where he sleeps and spends his time during the day."

The project was planned for three years and was intended to provide data on migration patterns, habitat use and population connectivity of alpine wolves. Filacorda was aware of the risk: "We are aware that this can happen, because under the legal rules it is then an Austrian wolf with an Italian collar, but a collar that provides information to everyone, not just the Italians."

"Regulation-compliant", but at what cost?

The state of Carinthia confirmed the shooting and described it as "regulation-compliant according to the Carinthian Risk Wolf Ordinance". The office of Deputy Governor Martin Gruber (ÖVP) stated that the wolf had appeared in the immediate vicinity of the settlement area. The University of Udine was informed "immediately". The project managers had been aware of the legal foundations in Carinthia from the beginning: "It was therefore always known on the Italian side that the radio-collared wolf could be removed if it behaved as a risk wolf. This case has now occurred."

For Gerald Friedl, chairman of the association "Wölfe in Österreich", this is not a satisfactory answer: "This wolf was not a so-called problem wolf, but a research animal. With its death, an important instrument of wolf monitoring was destroyed." Friedl sees this as another breach of European species protection law.

Transparency in instalments

The "Andrea" case fell during a phase when the state of Carinthia fundamentally changed its communication about wolf shootings. As recently as December 2025, the state government informed the public via press release about every single shooting. Since 2026, this has ended. The state justifies this with the lowered EU protection status of the wolf from 2025. In future, shooting numbers will only be published quarterly, "because we are aware of the particular emotionality surrounding the wolf issue", according to the state.

The "Andrea" case was therefore not communicated by the state of Carinthia, but was made public by the association "Wölfe in Österreich" on 4 February 2026.

What EU law says about this

On 11 July 2024, the European Court of Justice clarified in a landmark ruling (Case C-601/22): The wolf hunting ban also applies in Austria. An exception could only be granted if the wolf population were in a favourable conservation status, which is not the case in Austria. Austria had not registered any reservations against the high protection status when it joined the EU in 1995 and therefore cannot invoke special regulations of other member states. The Naturschutzbund Österreich criticises that the federal states do not comply with this obligation with their current shooting practice.

Since 24 June 2025, the wolf has been formally classified in the EU only as "protected" instead of "strictly protected", the downgrading in the Bern Convention came into force on 7 March 2025, and the corresponding adaptation of the EU Habitats Directive followed.As wildbeimwild.com has analysed in detail, the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe described the downgrading as "premature and flawed", and over 700 scientists expressed their concerns in open letters. However, the obligation to ensure favourable conservation status remains even after the downgrading, and is still not fulfilled in Austria.

A pattern that repeats itself

As wildbeimwild.com has already reported, federal states like Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Carinthia attempted in 2025 to politically declare the wolf's 'favorable conservation status' without scientific foundation. Wolf hunting in Austria has increased massively in recent years, with legal barriers systematically lowered in several federal states. Austria and Switzerland have repeatedly lowered shooting thresholds in recent years.

The death of 'Andrea' in this context is no coincidence, but the consequence of a policy that subordinates research and species protection to shooting interests and ends a €250,000 project with a single shot.

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