Wolf hunting in Slovakia
There are 100-160 wolves hunted each year in Slovakia according to official statistics. In the season 2010/2011, 159 wolves were killed by Slovakian hunters, representing more than 50% of estimated wolf numbers (200-400 wolves live in Slovakia). In 2011/2012, about 120 wolves were killed and officially the hunting has been stopped. Despite the fact that wolves in Slovakia are excluded from Annex IV of EU Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC), they are not excluded from Annex II - the list of species which should not be disturbed and their population should be kept in favorable conservation status. Moreover, the wolf is listed as a priority species in Annex II.
Slovakia is the only Visegrad country with legislation allowing the wolf hunting, which negatively influences the numbers of wolves in the Czech Republic but also Poland and Hungary. In addition, there is no robust monitoring of wolves in Slovakia and nobody really knows what proportion of the population is killed each year.
Friends of the Earth CZ sent the complaint to European Commission in August 2011 and cooperate with Slovakian NGOs in the monitoring of wolf numbers in the West Carpathians.
