“The adoption of a measure eagerly awaited by our breeders”: MP Sophie Pantel reacts to the downgrading of the wolf's protection status

Selon les estimations, 20 300 loups étaient présents en Europe, en 2023. Midi Libre – MiKAEL ANISSET

Le loup passerait ainsi d’espèce "strictement protégée" à "protégée".

Sophie Pantel, la députée de la Lozère, réagit au déclassement du statut de protection du loup : “Finally the adoption of a measure eagerly awaited by our breeders. The Bern Convention, which ensures the protection of wildlife mainly in Europe, approved on Tuesday, December 3, a downgrading of the protection status of the wolf (New window), which will go from “strictly protected” to “protected” species.”

In three months

The 49 member states, meeting in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), approved a proposal to this effect from the European Union. In a statement, the Council of Europe said: “LThe amendment will enter into force in three months, unless at least one third of the parties to the Berne Convention (17) object“, the Council of Europe said.

“If less than one third of the parties object, the decision will enter into force only for those parties that have not objected“, it said added.

Increase in the wolf population

The Bern Convention is made up of the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe, with the exception of San Marino, as well as four African countries: Burkina Faso, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia. The European Union is also a member.

Brussels agrees to better protect livestock in a context of increasing wolf populations. The latter have practically doubled in Europe in the space of ten years, reaching 20,300 individuals in 2023.