Environment Minister Ján Budaj (OĽaNO) has signed a decree enacting the year-round protection of the grey wolf in Slovakia.
He did so at a press conference marking Earth Day. The grey wolf will thus be put on the list of protected animals and the hunting of these animals will end on June 1. It will be prohibited to capture, injure or kill, breed, sell or exchange wolves and the social value of the wolf will be €3,000.
Requests for individual shootings will have to be made at the Environment Ministry. The decree also gives conditions for farmers with goats and sheep detailing how they should protect their animals in order not to have them attacked.
According to Budaj, the new decree does not only serve to protect this animal.
"It also facilitates the protection of non-intervention areas, facilitates some swaps that we plan in the forests in the future to ensure a better position for private owners and that nature conservation is not in conflict with economic interests,“ Budaj said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “The goal is to have a country that is successful, but also rich in biodiversity and beautiful nature.
PM Eduard Heger said that the environment is one of Slovakia's priorities in its Recovery and Resilience Plan. It is important for the government that Slovakia, even within the business environment, directs companies on the path of innovation and ecological production.
