National strategy

Monitoring to help manage the wolf better

The wolf is a constant source of discussion

(Bild: APA/AFP )

The wolf is back, but the rural population's joy is limited. Provincial Councillor for Agriculture Michaela Langer-Weninger wants to use monitoring to create a basis for sustainable management measures. The aim is to prove the favorable conservation status of the wolf population and to accelerate the downgrading of its protected status at European level.

"It's not about shooting or not shooting, but about showing foresight and taking precautions. Information is therefore the basis of my 4-package of measures for the wolf. Building on this comes precautionary measures in the form of herd protection measures and, as reinsurance in the event of an emergency, the enactment of a wolf management ordinance, which provides a quick and legally secure way of dealing with high-risk and harmful wolves," says Provincial Councillor Michaela Langer-Weninger, who advocates a rapid revision of the EU Habitats Directive.

Short time window for downgrading the protection status
On December 3, 2024, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention decided (with the votes of 38 of the 50 signatory states) to downgrade the protection status of the wolf. The downgrading is expected to come into force in the next three months, unless one third of the contracting parties object. The European Commission could then propose an amendment to the Habitats Directive. For this reason, the conference of provincial agricultural officers chaired by Upper Austria decided to invest in a scientific survey of the wolf population in Austria.

Three packs are active in the Mühlviertel
In Upper Austria, the focus is particularly on wolf focus areas such as the Mühlviertel, where several packs are located along the border with Lower Austria. The objective method of the Austrian Bear Wolf Lynx Center, which has been tested on the Allentsteiger pack in Lower Austria, is used for data collection. Implementation costs around 35,000 euros per province. 85 percent of the costs are to be estimated annually for the implementation of standard measures and laboratory costs. Around 5000 euros are planned for one-off investments in basic equipment such as wildlife cameras.

This is how many wolf kills there were 
In 2023, 66 operations were carried out, with 10 wolf kills clearly attributable to wolves. A total of 23 dead livestock, five injured livestock and 17 missing livestock were documented. In the previous year, the wolf officers and the 15 wolf damage assessors were also deployed 66 times. Samples were taken ten times, 33 wild animal and 20 livestock tears were assessed. For various reasons, no samples were taken from 13 possible wild animal kills. There was a sharp decline in the number of animal kills last year.