Between 20 and 25 wolves live in Wallonia, spread across three locations in Liège Province's Hautes-Fagnes and Eifel areas, Walloon Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Anne-Catherine Dalcq said on Monday.
Responding to questions from members of the regional parliament, the minister said that "the current strategy is not to set a threshold beyond which the presence of the wolf becomes problematic."
"The damage caused in an area is not directly proportional to the number of wolves," according to Minister Dalcq.
"Problems are more often linked to isolated individuals. Management efforts are therefore deployed and targeted at individuals who show behaviour considered to be problematic," she explained.
In the event of damage caused by a wolf, “the principle is that the farmer gets the benefit of the doubt in compensation procedures," the minister said.
According to Anne-Catherine Dalcq, around thirty sheep and ten cattle are injured or killed every year, including cases potentially linked to scavenging by stray dogs.
‘The wolf is still in an unfavourable situation in Wallonia, and the lowering of its protection status - approved at the end of September by EU Member States - will have no impact on the measures in force or the Walloon strategy. The wolf is, and remains, a protected species," she stressed.
