50 Wolves are Left in Slovenia, But the Government Just OK’ed a Cull — Sign Petition to Stop This!

It seems like no matter where you live, wolves will always be at odds with government interests. In the United States, these apex predators have long been a target of the federal government, mercilessly killed in order to protect the interests of cattle farmers. This is due to the belief that wolves cause irreparable harm to farmers’ livestock, but one only needs to do a little fact-checking to learn that this is far from the truth. In one instance, Michigan wolves were pegged for killing 96 of 149 cattle – only for it to be later discovered that the cattle died of dehydration, as the farm was rarely occupied by people, and wolves only came to the scene after the fact. This prompted the local government to sanction a wolf hunt that targeted 43 animals in the area. Hardly seems fair, especially considering wolf populations are on the decline.

Unfortunately, this problem is not exclusive to the United States. Slovenia’s wolves have also been a target of the country’s government in order to prevent attacks on livestock. For centuries, Slovenian wolves were ruthlessly hunted until the 1970s, when the federal government issued official protections. Sadly, by that time, their native wolf population was almost completely wiped out. In spite of international and national protections, wolves continued to suffer at the hands of unscientific methods of predator control — again, in order to supposedly protect the interests of cattle farmers.

At this time, Slovenia’s wolf population has been estimated as being less than 50 and it seems that there is no end to their struggle just to exist. In 2017, the Slovenian government announced that it will permit the culling of 10 wolves. Their reasons (protecting cattle) contradicts research conducted by the European Union-funded SlowWolf project, which has shown that culling wolves actually increases attacks on livestock. Wolves live in tight-knit packs that operate as a single unit. To kill a member of a cohesive pack is to disrupt the way that wolves hunt and protect their territory. Wolf packs that have been targeted by culls are more likely to attack livestock rather than deer because cattle are much easier for a single wolf to kill. In addition to that, as apex predators, wolves play an important part in controlling the populations of their natural prey. Killing wolves will inevitably lead to an overpopulation of their prey, which will only result in the death of more animals at the hands of humans.

Culling wolves is completely counterproductive and it is time to stand up for one of the most important predator populations. Sign this petition to tell the Slovenian government to put a stop to the 2017 wolf cull.

Lead image source: Jim Cumming/Shutterstock