The wolf hunting throughout Spain depended on a red button that changes its status. And Europe has decided to press it

The wolf has just seen how his future is complicated in European soil. And not because of pollution, global warming, a new disease that affects herds or the loss of their ecosystem. No. The key is in the EU Official Gazettewhich has just published the directive that degrades the status of protection of the species, passing it from “strictly protected” to only “protected”. Maybe it sounds like a smaller detail or pure community bureaucracy, but In the case of Spain It will allow hunters to reduce animals throughout the country.

The reason: a chain of legal changes.

What happened? After years of controversypolitical anger and a rifirrafe attempt between environmentalists and hunters, over the last months the wolf has seen how cracks opened in the legal armor that protected him from the hunters. And the reason must be sought in a series of decisions adopted nationally and community.

In the case of Spain, one of the key steps to reduce the protection of the wolf In Marchduring the processing of the Law on Food Waste in Congress. Now there has been a new step in that same direction, but at the broader level, with a change that It has just officialized he EU Official Gazette.

And what change is that? Basically degrades The status of the Canis lupus. Instead of being considered a “strictly protected species”, as until now, it appears in the list of “protected”. Without more. It may seem like a small adjustment, but in practice it supposes that the wolf will appear without nuances in the list of animals that “can be subject to management measures.” That is, hunt.

The European directive was approved a few days ago, June 17but just officialize in the EU Official Gazetteas He has revealed eldiario.es. Again it may seem simple bureaucratic, but it has important repercussions: from now on it opens a period of 20 days For the entry into force of change, so on July 14 the wolf will have lost its “strictly protected” status.

Is it a novelty? Yes. And no. The change made in the Habitat Directive to beginning of this month And his recent publication in “The Community Boe” are important news for their impact, but they will actually surprise few. The wolf’s legal armor has been a reason for debate at European level. The controversy can be at least 2022, when the president of the CE, Ursula von der Leyen, lost his favorite pony for the attack of a wolf.

That same year Brussels commissioned a “In -depth analysis” on the increase of the species in the continent thanks to its legal armor against the hunters. What was your conclusion? “The concentration of wolves in some European regions has become a real danger to cattle and, potentially, also for humans”, He reflected Von der Leyen in 2023. In the same statement, the CE encouraged local authorities to “take measures when necessary.”

What happened since then? That community machinery has continued working on the subject. TO late 2024 The Permanent Committee of the Berna Agreement voted in favor of the EU proposal to reduce the wolf protection status, so that it passed from “strictly protected” to only “protected”, and In March The Commission moved again to propose that this change was transferred to its Habitats directiveadaptation that He received green light This same month.

And what happens in Spain? The wolf has not only been the protagonist of community policy. Throughout the last years it has also served to warm the debate in Spain, where environmentalists, hunters or the parliamentary arch itself differs on the degree of protection that the species must enjoy in the Peninsula. Ecologists in action He thinks for example, authorizing his hunt “turns his back on science.” For the RFF it will help the “coexistence” With the farmers.

With that backdrop, three months ago Congress adopted a series of fundamental measures for the future of the wolf in our country. The most immediate affected the herds located north of the Duero River. The lower house He endorsed A change in The Royal Decree that develops the Lespre to eliminate the protection of the animals located in that territory and that the autonomies can decide on their hunting. In practice that meant returning them to the situation in which they were before 2021.

And what happens to the south of the Duero? It is there where there will be news from now on. In March Congress He opened the door Also to be reduced by the protection of the wolf to the south of the Duero, but as long as its community protection is reduced before, something that has just been formalized. In that way The species comes out of the special protection regime list also south of the Duero River.

Interestingly, the Congress of Deputies made the decision while processed a law on food waste management. The reason: the promoters of the amendment that made possible the change in the Statute of the Wolf They argued that the attacks of the wolves to the cattle generate thousands of kilos of lost meat.

Images | Leopold de Castro (Flickr) 1 and 2

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