Wolf hunting in Slovakia
There are 100-160 wolves hunted each year in Slovakia according to official statistics. In 2010/2011 season, 159 wolves were killed by Slovakian hunters which represents more than 50% of average wolf numbers (200-400 wolves are estimated in Slovakia). In 2011/2012, about 120 wolves were killed and officially the hunting has been stopped. Although 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 country with legislation enabling wolf hunting from 4 Visegrad countries, which negatively influence the numbers of wolves in Czech Republic, but also Poland and Hungary. In addition there is no robust monitoring of wolves in Slovakia and nobody really knows the proportion of the population hunted each year.
Friends of the Earth CZ sent the complaint to European Commission in August 2011 and cooperate with Slovakian NGOs on monitoring of wolf numbers in the West Carpathians.
