Science, Policy and Laws to prevent the killing of wolves in Europe – Copy

21 August 2025 – Open Letter of 103 NGOs to 27 EU Member States: Trust Science, Stand with Wolves, Reject the downlisting

The Habitats Directive is clear: the key criterion for any change in status must be the species’ favorable conservation status. To date, no scientific evidence demonstrates that the nine subpopulations of Canis lupus in the EU are in such condition. There is no immediate obligation for Member States to lower protection at the national level. The Directive provides until January 2027 for any legislative adjustments, and ongoing legal challenges before the European Court of Justice could still annul the EU decision. Moreover, evidence shows that wolf-related damage to livestock is minimal, particularly when preventive measures – already supported by EU funds – are applied effectively. In this context, premature national downlisting would be both scientifically unfounded and legally risky.

24 February 2026 – 13 Italian Associations, including Green Impact, send a Letter about WOLVES to the Italian MEDIA.

Brussels, 14 October 2025 – The legal appeal Green Impact and other defendants brought against the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission for down-listing wolf protection has been now published in the Official Journal of the European Union (T-563/25).

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14 October 2025 – Pro Natura and Green Impact call for a change of course in Piedmont’s wolf and hunting policies.

The associations denounce inconsistent regional strategies and waste of public funds. While €500,000 a year are allocated for livestock protection measures-requested by only 170 out of 50,000 farms-large sums are spent to subsidize hunting of wild boar and roe deer, the wolf’s natural prey. Over 50 wolves have been found dead in 2025 alone, many killed by poachers, even though the species is classified as “Near Threatened” on the Alpine arc (IUCN, 2023). The associations stress that the wolf is a natural and free regulator of ecosystems, essential to controlling ungulate overabundance and maintaining biodiversity. They urge the Region to replace fear and misinformation with science-based coexistence: not Beware of the wolf, but Long live the wolf.

Green Impact and LNDC Animal Protection: “The wolf must be protected, not downgraded. Our appeal to the European Court of Justice has been published in the Official Journal.”

The associations LNDC Animal Protection and Green Impact, together with Earth ODV, One Voice (France), and Great Lakes (Hungary), have filed an appeal with the Court of Justice of the European Union requesting the annulment of the wolf’s downgrading decided by the EU in June. The appeal has now been officially published in the Official Journal, and the Court will have to rule on it.

5 September 2025 – Pro Natura and Green Impact call on the Administrative Court of Bolzano to ask the European Court of Justice for a ruling on whether the Province’s actions comply with EU law.

South Tyrol ignores EU rules by authorizing wolf killings instead of promoting proper livestock protection. Pro Natura and Green Impact highlight that wolf predation is minimal compared to livestock losses, yet every year thousands of ungulates are killed by hunters on the Province’s orders. This reduces the wolves’ natural prey and disrupts the ecological balance that would otherwise help protect pastures at no cost. Wolves, they stress, are essential for biodiversity and coexistence is possible where EU prevention measures are applied.

12 August 2025: Bolzano Province authorizes the killing of a randomly selected wolf from a threatened subpopulation, defying EU Law and scientific evidence; environmental groups urge authorities to cancel plans for a second culling amid ongoing Legal Appeals.

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5 June 2025 – Wolf downgraded at European Council, as several EU countries announce continued strict protection at national level.

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Read the Press Release in Italian

8 May 2025 – The European Parliament chooses politics over science: Green Impact and LNDC Animal Protection’s Press Release on the downgrading of the wolf.

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Read the Press Release in Italian

1 April 2025 – Fisher and Randi, 2025. Uncertain and outdated data should not be used to push for the downgrading of European wolf (Canis lupus) populations. Some comments on Blanco & Sundseth (2023) report for the European Commission.

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Open Letter, 26 November 2024

Mr Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe; Mr Mikaël Poutiers, Secretary of the Bern Convention

The EU Proposal on Wolf downlisting is unlawful and therefore unfit for being voted at the 2024 December, Standing Committee meeting of the Bern Convention.

The Proposal of the European Union (EU), initiated by the European Commission[1], to downgrade the conservation status of wolves is widely regarded as unlawful, lacking scientific justification, and violating principles of democratic participation and rule of law in policymaking. Consequently, it should not be considered for a vote at the Standing Committee Meeting of the Bern Convention in December 2024. Given the current circumstances, a reputational risk for the Bern Convention could arise if a vote allowed.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_6752

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_4330

Wolf future at risk: politics not science, behind Commission’s downgrade plan. Decision on the EU proposal due on 2 – 6 December 2024 at the Bern Convention

Brussels, 21 November 2024 – Environmental Association Green Impact, together with Great Lakes and Wetlands and others, denounced the lack of science-backing and breach of democratic process stemming from the European Commission’s proposal to weaken the legal protection of the European Grey wolf (Canis lupus).

The associations called on Mikaël Poutiers, the Secretary General of the Bern Convention (on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), not to allow a vote at the forthcoming Standing Committee December meeting