The strict protection of certain animal species under the Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) extends to specimens which leave their natural habitat and end up in areas where people live, the Court of Justice confirmed in a ruling handed down on Thursday 11 June in the context of a reference for a preliminary ruling (Case C-88/19).
Thus, the capture and transport of a wolf found in a village can only be justified if it is subject to a derogation adopted by the competent national authority.
In 2016, the staff of an animal protection association, accompanied by a veterinarian, proceeded to capture and transport, without prior authorisation, a wolf that was at the home of a resident of a Romanian village.
While being transported, the captured wolf had managed to escape into a forest, which triggered a criminal complaint.
In the context of that complaint, the national court raised the question of whether the protective provisions of the Habitats Directive are applicable to the capture of wild wolves on the outskirts of a built-up area or on the territory of a local authority.
The Court notes that, as regards protected animal species which, like the wolf, occupy vast territories, the concept of 'natural range' is broader than the geographical area in which the animal species concerned is present or extends in the course of its natural behaviour.
Accordingly, the wording of Article 12(1) of the Directive, which prohibits the deliberate capture or killing of specimens of protected species “in the wild”, does not make it possible to exclude human settlement areas from the scope of protection of that provision, the Court concludes.
See the ruling (in French): https://bit.ly/3dVwqqb (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)