Wolf killed spectacled sheep in East Tyrol: approved for shooting

Six sheep were found dead on Tuesday, the country said. A further nine animals were killed and seven others were injured. According to media reports, the affected animals were rare Carinthian spectacled sheep, whose breed is almost threatened with extinction. After an assessment by the official veterinarian, a wolf was suspected to be the cause. The regulation was now in force for eight weeks.

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It applies to a radius of ten kilometers around the incident site. The hunters have already been informed. As recently as mid-April, two sheep were killed and another injured right next to an inhabited building in St. Veit in Defereggen (Lienz district). It has now been said that a wolf from the Italian population has now been proven to be the cause based on samples.

Four wolves killed

So far, a total of four wolves have been killed in Tyrol according to shooting regulations, said a spokesman for the state. Three were killed in East Tyrol and one in the North Tyrolean low mountain range (Innsbruck-Land district). With the shooting regulations that have now been issued, one wolf was currently approved for shooting. Another regulation expired this year in Fieberbrunn (Kitzbühel district) without being fulfilled.

Legal and political debates

Last year, the Tyrolean state parliament passed an amendment to the law that allowed killing by decree and no longer by notice. Previous decisions had been overturned by the court several times after environmental organizations had successfully appealed against them. The shooting regulations now apply to a wolf – and not to an individual. These and similar regulations in the federal states continually cause legal and political debates. The EU Commission recently gave signals towards lowering the protection status of the wolf.