Discussions with the European Commission regarding wolf management and culling in Austria continue. Following the reports submitted in recent months, a new and comprehensive dossier prepared by the Austrian Nature Conservation Alliance (ANCA) brings together official documentation, monitoring data, responses from Austrian regional governments, scientific literature, and case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The document, submitted to the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment on August 11, 2026, significantly expands the framework initially emerging from the killing of the radio-collared Italian wolf Mirco, shot in Tyrol last June. The aim is to determine whether the individual incidents are actually the expression of structural criticalities in wolf management in Austria and whether the legislation and practices adopted by the various Länder are fully compatible with the obligations set forth in the Habitats Directive.
Among the main issues highlighted in the dossier are the lack of a uniform and standardized national monitoring system, the lack of scientific assessments of the cumulative effects of culling, the insufficient testing of non-lethal alternatives, the use of preventive culling, and the difficulty, in many cases, in proving that the killed wolf is actually the individual responsible for the behavior that led to the authorization.
Of particular relevance is the issue of conservation status. In its report pursuant to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, Austria classified the wolf population as having an "unfavorable-inadequate" conservation status. Despite this, according to data collected in the dossier, approximately 70 wolves have been culled based on administrative decisions since 2022, at least 25 of them in the first half of 2026 alone.
The dossier also devotes ample space to the cases of Andrea and Mirco, two wolves from Italian scientific projects and equipped with GPS radio collars.
In the case of Andrea, shot in Carinthia in February 2026, the same regional authorities had previously communicated that the radio-collared Italian wolf should not have been killed and that game reserve owners would be informed of its presence. Despite this, the animal was subsequently shot , and the documentation examined does not show that a definitive identity check was carried out before the shot.
In Mirco's case, however, Tyrol issued the culling order on June 2nd. In the following days, the authorities were informed of the presence of the radio-collared Italian wolf and received information from the search team regarding its location up to the day before the cull. Mirco was killed on June 21st. Again, according to information provided by the Tyrolean authorities themselves, there is no evidence that the animal's identity or the presence of the radio collar had been verified before the cull.
Another problematic issue concerns the criteria used to define a wolf as "at risk" or "harmful." In some Länder, the animal's presence near buildings or settlements can contribute to the authorization of its cull, while scientific literature clearly distinguishes the mere presence of wolves in populated environments from truly confident or dangerous behaviors toward humans.
The discussion with the European Commission is therefore still ongoing. Formal discussions have already taken place with the Directorate-General for the Environment in recent months, and the new documentation was submitted specifically to allow the European institutions to assess a framework that appears much broader than the individual cases of Andrea and Mirco.
The question we posed to the Commission is simple: it's not a matter of debating whether it's possible, in certain circumstances, to remove a single wolf, but of verifying whether decisions are made based on adequate scientific data and through individual, proportionate assessments that comply with European legislation.
The cases of the two Italian wolves have brought to light problems that could affect the entire Austrian management system. Therefore, we will continue to collaborate with ANCA and the European institutions to ensure full clarity and ensure that wolf management, even after the change in its European protection regime, continues to strictly comply with the obligations established by the Habitats Directive and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
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