Should wolves be protected?

CGTN Europe

Warning: Some people may find the images shown in this video distressing   One creature making a comeback from endangered status is the European wolf. The population has grown so successfully the EU is proposing a weakening of their conservation status.    This would allow countries more flexibility in addressing the challenges that come with wolf populations. Is this the right way forward? Johannes Pleschberger reports from Austria.  #austria #wolf #eu #european #endangeredspecies

Transcript

00:00A third of Michael Stocker's sheep herd was dead after wolves roamed his mountain pasture

00:08in southern Austria.

00:09If the authorities don't act, he says he will stop farming.

00:15I ask myself whether I should continue to be a farmer at all when I see that a third

00:20of my flock of sheep are lying dead around me and have perished miserably.

00:26I wouldn't have a problem if the wolf killed just one sheep, but it kills a lot of them

00:30just for the fun of it.

00:34Last year, wolves killed half a percent of the EU's sheep population.

00:40Thirty years ago, the European Union decided to re-establish wolf packs in areas like the

00:46Alps where they had been extinct for decades.

00:49Now their population has multiplied to 20,000 and Europe is changing course, planning to

00:55lower the protection status, which will make it easier for farmers to cull the animal.

01:01Already now, some regions in Austria and Slovenia allow farmers to shoot wolves that have mauled

01:06a certain number of sheep.

01:08Lowering the carnivore status from strictly protected to protected would mean more culling

01:14and more protest from conservationists.

01:17The wolf has a very, very important role in the whole ecosystem of the forest, of the mountains.

01:25By hunting wild animals like deer, wolves can help control Austria's ever-growing game population,

01:32Meyer says.

01:33These deers eat the trunks of the trees, so we have a lot of damage in our forests and

01:40the wolf just regulates this, you know.

01:44However, if wolves further multiply in Austria's Alps, more mountain farmers are likely to quit.

01:50This means alpine pastures created over thousands of years by grazing sheep and cattle could

01:55cease to exist, which would have far-reaching consequences.

02:00When mountain farmers stop bringing their sheep to pastures, then this alpine landscape

02:05becomes overgrown with trees and many pasture species that are much more endangered than

02:10the wolf lose their habitat.

02:15For now, the wolf is set to stay.

02:17Even a lowered conservation status will not stop Austria's current wolf population from increasing.

02:23Johannes Blechberger, CGTN, Greifenburg, Austria.

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