Image: (APA/dpa/Lino Mirgeler)
The shooting ordinance is valid for eight weeks in 39 hunting areas, said Deputy Governor Josef Geisler (ÖVP). For the first time after a legislative amendment passed in the state parliament, the shooting ordinance was no longer issued for a specific animal, and DNA determination is no longer necessary. According to the amendment, which was passed in the state parliament in February and came into force in April, killing is now carried out by ordinance and no longer by decision. Previous decisions had been overturned by the court several times after environmental protection organizations had successfully appealed them. The shooting ordinance now applies to a wolf – and not to an individual.
According to the state, there have been several livestock kills in East Tyrol since the end of April with suspected large predators, but a shooting permit has not yet been issued. “Harmful animals that can be removed are wolves or golden jackals that climb professional herd protection fences or tear livestock more than once on non-protectable alpine pastures or kill or injure at least five sheep in a single tear event. If there is sufficient suspicion of a large carnivore, it doesn’t have to be waiting for the DNA results to be available,” the authority said. Two different wolves had already been genetically detected this year.
The responsible deputy governor, Geisler, once again pleaded for the lowering of the protection status of the wolf in the EU. “The wolf is not an endangered species and should be hunted regularly,” he demanded.
Source: Nachrichten
