Dutch authorities can shoot “deviant” wolves that pose a danger to the public with paintballs, a court ruled on Wednesday, as debate rages in Europe over protecting the animals.
After a lengthy legal battle, the court in Utrecht, central Netherlands, judged that the behavior of some of the wolves in a national park was “a serious threat to public safety.”
One female wolf is not only unafraid when photographers move close to her, but also approaches cyclists and walkers on her own, the court said.
Photo: AFP
“The fact that the wolf seems to be less and less afraid of people does not mean that the animal can no longer become aggressive and bite,” the ruling said.
Other methods of scaring off wolves, such as shouting, are ineffective, and pepper spray was determined to be dangerous for the animals.
“There is no other satisfactory solution than shooting the wolf with a paintball gun and... it is necessary in the interest of public safety,” the court said.
The decision came as Europe grapples with its wolf population, which has bounced back from near-extinction.
The European Commission last month said that it wants to change their protected status — allowing them to be hunted — after data showed they pose a rising threat to livestock.
Brussels is asking EU member countries to revise the protection status for wolves, taking it from “strictly protected” to just “protected,” which would authorize the hunting of wolves under strict regulation.
The commission estimates there are about 20,300 wolves across the EU, and “damage to livestock has increased as the wolf population has grown.”
A commission study said wolves killed at least 65,000 heads of livestock in the EU each year: sheep and goats in 73 percent of cases, cattle in 19 percent, and horses and donkeys in 6 percent of cases.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lost her elderly pony Dolly in September last year to a wolf that crept into the pony’s enclosure on her family’s rural property in northern Germany.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS