Environment Ministry: Nobody is Calling for Nationwide Wolf Hunt in Slovakia

Bratislava, November 29 (TASR) - The amendment to the Environment Ministry's decree, which takes the grey wolf off the list of protected animals and includes it on the list of selected animal species, is intended to introduce rational management of the wolf population in Slovakia, TASR has learnt from the ministry's communications department. Wolf hunting will be allowed under strict conditions of territorial and temporal protection and on the basis of set quotas. "We reject the hysteria of some activists, because no one is calling for a nationwide hunting of the wolf in Slovakia," stated the ministry. According to the Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders, the number of wolf attacks on livestock has been steadily increasing, especially in recent years. According to the ministry, the wolf also causes damage to livestock within the European Union (EU). According to media reports, wolves kill more than 65,000 livestock in the EU every year. "That is why the European institutions and many EU member states want to remove the wolf from the list of strictly protected species and thus allow for an effective management of European wolf populations. The ministry intends to do the same regarding bears," the communications department explained. Conservationists from Aevis and 'We Are the Forest' initiative have obtained a sufficient number of signatures on a mass petition calling on the Environment Ministry to withdraw the draft decree allowing wolf hunting, as they find the minister's proposal unacceptable. lin/mcs/mf