After Austria, the EU’s top court sets Spain straight on wolf hunting

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Regions cannot authorise the hunting of wolves if their population numbers are still low at the national level, as is the case in Spain’s Castilla Leon region, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said on Monday (29 July), weeks after upholding strict protection measures in Austria.

“The wolf cannot be designated as a huntable species in a part of the territory of a member state when its conservation status at national level is unfavourable,” the ECJ’s press release said.

This follows a decision by the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León to authorise the hunting of 329 wolves in the 2019 – 2022 period to protect livestock from attacks.

In Spain, wolf populations located south of the Douro river, like part of Castilla y León, may be subject to “management measures,” while north of the river, the species enjoys stricter protection.

The Spanish association for the conservation and study of the Iberian wolf (ASCEL), which brought the case to the region’s High Court of Justice in 2022, was pleased that the ECJ had “proved them right”.

“Protected species and species of Community interest cannot be subject to hunting quotas,” ASCEL wrote on X.

‘Contrary to the Habitat Directive’

The EU’s Habitats Directive, which provides “strict” protection for the predator at European level, allows for derogations to facilitate management measures such as hunting.

But the ECJ ruling insists that such measures must “contribute to the maintenance or re-establishment of the species concerned at a favourable conservation status”.

A report Spain sent to the Commission in 2019 shows an “unfavourable-mediocre” conservation status in three regions, including Castilla y León.

The bloc’s top court ruled that the region did not take this report into account.

In its view, authorising hunting in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León was therefore contrary to the Habitats Directive.

For the NGO WWWF Spain, which reacted on X, the country must now “approve a coexistence plan and strengthen preventive measures to support livestock farmers”.

Monitoring data at all levels

This decision comes a few weeks after the publication of a ruling by the CJEU against the Land of Tyrol in Austria, which had granted a temporary derogation for wolf hunting, even though this was not justified on economic grounds.

Although the European Commission proposed lowering the wolf’s protection status in the Habitats Directive in 2023 to satisfy livestock farmers, the Council still needs to reach agreement.

Spain, as well as Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Germany, asked for more data on the situation of the species before continuing the work in the Council.

For the Court of Justice, the regions must base themselves on the data from the member states published officially every six years under the directive, but also on “recent” scientific data at the local level, in the biogeographical region, and at cross-border level.