Egtved livestock owners reject new wolf shooting rules

Livestock owners in Egtved say new rules making it easier to shoot wolves will be of little practical use, DR reports. The rules take effect on 1 September, but local residents want wider options for regulating the animals.

Anita Staunsbjerg Hansen, who keeps horses and cattle, said she could only use the rules if she were armed and found a wolf in the process of eating her animals.

“I do not consider that very likely, so I cannot see that I can use it for much,” she said.

The Danish Agency for Green Transition and Aquatic Environment is holding a public meeting in Egtved on Thursday evening, with wolves on the agenda. Kurt Johansen, a hobby farmer who also lives in the area, said he doubts the new rules will have much effect.

“A wolf attack does not give you any warning. It is not as if your livestock stands there calling for you. It happens at a time when you do not notice it,” he said.

Under the new regulation, people may shoot a wolf if it enters an area behind a wolf-proof fence. They may also shoot if it is necessary to “avert an attack on livestock”, but they must first fire a warning shot.

Until the rules take effect, shooting a wolf still requires a regulation permit from the agency, unless the situation involves immediate self-defence.

Johansen acknowledged that the authorities had taken some action, saying it was positive that livestock owners would have more scope to defend their animals without being reported to the police or getting into trouble.

But he described the changes as “made-up policy” and “patchwork solutions” designed to give the impression that something was being done.

Johansen and Staunsbjerg Hansen instead want zones where wolves are protected, with unrestricted wolf hunting outside those zones.

“We need ordinary hunting of wolves, so we have a chance of pushing them farther back into the large wild forests,” said Anna Marie Dahl, a hobby farmer near Egtved whose two ponies were killed in a wolf attack this spring.

Dahl said the new regulation was a step in the right direction, but not enough.

Christian Rabjerg Madsen, the minister for nature and animal welfare, said politicians could not introduce unrestricted wolf hunting because it would go beyond the rules governing the country’s ability to regulate wolves within the European Union.

He said the government was also opening a new fund for grants to install wolf-proof fencing. In his view, such fencing is the best way to protect livestock.

“We need to learn to coexist with the wolf. If that is to happen in a good way, we must take account of the people who live close to wolves,” he said.