A September night last summer, a wolf entered a farm in Lower Saxony (Germany) and devoured a pony. This habitual event triggered a series of consequences for the conspecifics since their “dinner” that day Her name was Dolly and she was the property of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, no more and no less., For over 30 years.
Weeks after the event, Von der Leyen commissioned community engineers to reassess the threat wolves pose to livestock and rural populations.On the part of the European Executive, they have always reiterated that this order was not aimed at avenging the death of the pony. However, the official start of the process of considering changes to the rules protecting these animals began this week by the European Commission, reopening the debate.. Opinions from scientists, environmental organizations, farmers and rural communities will be sought until September 22nd to update data on the wolf population and its impact on the environment and livestock production.
These evaluations show that The European Commission could present a legislative initiative to “amend, where appropriate, the protection status of the wolf in the EU and update the legal framework to introduce, where necessary, greater flexibility in the face of developments of this species.”
Some Agricultural and livestock organizations that have been calling for action against wolf attacks on their livestock for some timeOr they complain that the death of Von der Leyen’s pony was more effective than all their protests. While, Environmentalists believe the commission is avenging the death of the president’s favorite. From Brussels they deny both. The death of Von der Leyen’s pony didn’t just have an impact in BrusselsAfter the debate ended, the topic was very popular on social networks.
The controversy has also reached Spain. The regional governments are closely following the development of this situation. Also the Ministry of Ecological Transition with the third vice president, Teresa Ribera at the helm, in 2021 amended national law to extend the ban on hunting and killing wolves that applied south of the Duero River to the north, where 93% of Spain’s wolf population lives.
Juan Ignacio Zoido, PP MEP, criticized the decision and criticized Ribera for imposing a total ban on hunting wolves “without scientific support or clear criteria”. “The European Commission will not act spontaneously if it does not have objective data to back it up,” he added. while I ask for silence while I wait for the data.
We are currently waiting for the European Commission to complete its in-depth analysis of the protection system for this animal, which has caused controversy in half of Europe.