Por Redaccion With 371 votes in favor, 162 against, and 37 abstentions, the Parliament has approved the proposal of the Commission to modify the Habitat Directive, including all wolf populations in the protected category, not strictly protected, including wolf populations south of the Duero, which still maintained strict protection.
May 8, 2025
Castilla y León |
Department of Environment, Housing, and Land Planning
This way, as recognized by the European Commission, Member States will now have greater flexibility in managing their wolf populations to improve coexistence with humans and minimize the impact of wolf population growth in the EU. This implies that the Junta de Castilla y León regains the management capacity of the species that the Spanish Government cut off in 2021.
Additionally, thanks to the amendments approved in the Senate during the processing of Law 1/2025, of April 1, on the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste – specifically, thanks to the incorporation of the single transitory provision, adaptation to European regulations – once the EU Council formally approves the modification of the Directive today supported by the Parliament – and it is published in the Official Journal – the wolf populations south of the Duero will automatically be excluded from Annex IV of the Directive (strict protection) to be included in Annex V, which allows greater flexibility and adoption of species management measures. A new and satisfactory situation given that since 1992, the Junta could not manage the species by provision of said Directive.
The next necessary step to enable the normal management of the species will be the review of the conservation status assessment of the wolf for the current six-year period, which is currently unfavorable. The Junta already sent in January of this year to the Ministry the information confirming the favorable conservation status of the species in the Community. The deadline that the Spanish Government has to prepare this report is July 31, needing prior approval in the Sectorial Conference.
The Junta is confident that this time the Spanish Government will listen to the communities with wolf presence and the data provided from the monitoring of wolf populations and their respective regional censuses carried out during the 2019-2024 six-year period, so that the assessment of the conservation status of the wolf in Spain is favorable, as it was in the 2007-2012 six-year period, with fewer wolves and a smaller distribution area than the current situation.
Regarding this six-year report, it is worth noting that the Ministry and the Commission were warned by the Junta de Castilla y León and other regional governments of the errors in that 2019 report, and in view of the national census that must be prepared in 2025 based on the censuses of the autonomous communities, it seems that the only decision possible is the rectification of this situation in the new six-year report, so that the wolf has to be considered in a favorable conservation status.
From the Junta de Castilla y León, based on the new census and the evolution of attacks on livestock, the necessary actions will be planned to reduce damage to livestock. To achieve this, efforts will be made to promote preventive measures on the species, fair and prompt compensation to farmers, and also the control of individuals that, despite the preventive measures taken, continue to cause damage, or in those farms where known preventive measures are not viable.
The Junta de Castilla y León does not seek for the wolf to be a conventional game species, but rather for controls to be established on it to help reduce damage and, therefore, restore the balance between wolf conservation and livestock.
On the other hand, compensation for damages will continue to be covered by the Administration, and for this, it will have the support of administration personnel, environmental agents, environment wardens, and technicians, as well as local hunters to facilitate the implementation of damage reduction decisions.
With this support from the European Parliament, another step is taken towards the goal that the Junta de Castilla y León has been working on in recent years, both at the European and national levels.