Party for the Animals raises issue of shooting of Romanian bears and wolves in EU

Party for the Animals MEP Anja Hazekamp has put questions to the European Commission about reports indicating that Romania plans on having substantial numbers of brown bears and wolves shot by hunters and local authorities.

Both species are listed in Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive and Annex II of the Berne Convention as species for which a strict protection regime must be applied and which should not be disturbed or killed.

Concerns were also expressed by experts and nature conservation organisations about the shooting of bears and wolves in Romania. According to them, the hunting will jeopardise the populations and disrupt them in such a way that any problems will only be aggravated.

By asking questions, the Party for the Animals’ European group wants to force the European Commission to take the necessary action to halt the killing of these protected and intelligent animals as soon as possible.

These are the questions asked by Hazekamp:

1. Does the Commission agree that the killing of bears and wolves in Romania would undermine efforts to maintain the favourable conservation status of these animal populations in their natural habitat?

2. To what extent has Romania shown that there are no satisfactory alternatives to killing these animals? What preventive measures, such as preventing the species from being disturbed in their natural habitat, have the Romanian authorities taken?

3. What will the Commission do to prevent the killing of wolves and bears in Romania or to halt it as soon as possible?