Party for the Animals wants ‘human-free’ areas where wolves can run wild

In a debate about the state of nature in the Netherlands, the House of Representatives spoke on Wednesday evening about the return of the wolf. According to Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature), there are ‘dilemmas’ now that animal is showing up in various provinces. On the one hand, the arrival of the top predator is an enrichment of biodiversity, according to the minister. But on the other hand, the beast’s ravaging forays are far-reaching: farm animals are often attacked and found dead. As a precaution, this means that animals are kept in stables for longer, while farmers have to let their cattle graze in the meadow more often.

In addition, there are various ‘worrying’ signals from Dutch wolves that are not shy. “Wolves must learn from their parents to keep their distance from people,” says Minister Van der Wal. Still, images have surfaced of wolves walking close to people. This may be because the animals have been fed or lured. “But there is no evidence for provocation,” says the minister. One of the measures taken by provincial authorities is to make the animals afraid of people again. This is done, among other things, by shooting at the wolves with paintball weapons.

witch hunt

However, the animal party argues for areas of nature where people no longer come to allow the wolf to display its natural behaviour. According to MP Vestering, there has been a ‘witch hunt’ against the predator for some time. The party also wants to prevent the animals from being shot with the paintball guns in the near future. However, Van der Wal does not block that. She does think that a ‘wolf dialogue’ is starting in the Netherlands now that we live together with the animal. According to the minister, the response is now mainly ‘out of fear’ and ‘after a fuss’. “I don’t think that’s careful.” The minister says that there are no known recent attacks by wolves on humans in the Netherlands.

Besides the fact that wolves cause a lot of misery for farmers, Van der Wal also sees positive sides of the return of the animal. For example, the minister said that a wolf has also been spotted at Kroondomein Het Loo, the nature reserve near the Veluwe, owned by King Willem-Alexander. He hunts there on average for half a day a year to maintain the game population. Van der Wal says that the arrival of the wolf here ‘results in less culling’.

To questions from MPs whether it is possible to chase or shoot the wolf again, Van der Wal replied that this is not simply possible. This is only possible with so-called ‘problem wolves’. She referred to Article 16 of the Habitats Directive. It states that, in order to prevent serious damage to livestock holdings, killing is permitted where there is no other satisfactory solution and provided that killing does not impair the aim of keeping populations of the species concerned in their natural range at a favorable conservation status to survive.”

According to Van der Wal, provinces use the principle that a ‘problem wolf’ is involved if an animal has attacked protected livestock several times. “There can also be a problem wolf if a wolf reacts aggressively to people or when a wolf actively and consciously approaches people within 30 meters several times and the elimination of this does not work or is practically impracticable.”

Conversation with neighboring countries

Van der Wal also wants to enter into talks with neighboring countries where the wolf has been around for some time, for example Germany. More measures have been taken there to let the animal run its course. However, GL MP Laura Bromet calls on the minister to ‘do not raise expectations among the anti-wolf people’. Bromet is delighted with the return of the beast. “Fantastic,” she said. The VVD and BBB, among others, are a lot less enthusiastic. They hope that Van der Wal will take more steps to prevent wolf attacks on livestock.