Press Release: A New Era for Large Carnivores
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On 7 March 2025, the Bern Convention's decision to downgrade the protection status of wolves from strictly protected to protected came into force. This shift, which will be reflected in the EU’s Habitats Directive, allows for measures such as the shooting of problematic wolves and the introduction of hunting quotas.
After decades of recovery, large carnivores such as wolves, brown bears and the Eurasian lynx are returning across Europe, thanks in part to conservation legislation such as the Bern Convention and the Habitats Directive. While their comeback is a conservation success story, it is not without challenges, especially for rural communities and particularly farmers, pastoralists and hunters. Livestock losses, safety concerns, and disagreement over how to manage them have brought tensions back into focus.
The CoCo Project is working across 12 countries to bring local voices into the conversation, ensuring that those most affected are heard. Meaningful dialogue and collaboration have become even more important to finding lasting solutions for coexistence.
the focus shifts from ‘how do we prevent large carnivores from extinction?’ to ‘how to live with a
conservation success?’. We can’t promise easy answers, but we can at least ensure that a diversity of
perspectives are given a voice in the discussion.