What should Slovenia do about wolves?
A debate about shooting wolves has broken out in Slovenia. According to the government there are more of these animals than the country can cope with. Due to milder winters as a result of climate change, wolf populations are growing across the Alpine region. Slovenian media discuss what should be done.
Cattle breeders haven't got a clue
Slovenian farmers are calling for wolves to be shot or fenced in in state-owned forests. Dnevnik reacts angrily:
“These demands show how ignorant the cattle breeders are and how little they understand the laws of nature. ... Even cattle breeders in Africa are aware of the need to coexist with wild animals. The government has a responsibility to provide these breeders with a basic education on these matters as quickly as possible. ... Once these foundations have been laid a different approach can be taken to solving such problems. But as long as people can't see the woods for the trees we're taking a worse approach to solving the problem than the tribes in Africa.”
The animals are just a symptom
The biggest problem in rural areas is not predators, comments RTV Slovenija:
“Wolves are just a symptom of the lack of a common strategy among various ministries for those areas where animals and humans live together. Above all the nature conservation policy stands in contradiction to the policy of agricultural subsidies. A similar problem arises when it comes to protecting grasslands: one measure undermines the goals of another. However this is not just a problem for Slovenia but a European problem. Just as the problem of rural exodus and ageing populations in rural areas is more pronounced in certain countries. Wild animals are not the cause of the exodus from rural areas, as some argue, but they can be the consequence of a lacking state concept for rural areas.”