09/05/2025 (Agence Europe) – “Downgrading wolf protection is a political move disguised as policy – it ignores science, fuels division, and jeopardises one of Europe’s greatest conservation successes”, said a coalition of NGOs made up of WWF EU, BirdLife Europe, ClientEarth and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) on Thursday 8 May, in reaction to the European Parliament’s approval of the downgrading of wolves’ protection status from ‘strictly protected’ to ‘protected’ (see EUROPE 13636/14). The NGOs felt that this decision could “undo decades of progress” in areas where the ‘strictly protected’ status had proved effective in allowing wolf populations to recover. Since wolves’ condition “remains fragile in most of Europe”, the NGOs are calling on the Member States to maintain strict protection of wolves in their legislation. (FS)