Judge rules that Gelderland is not allowed to scare off wolf with paintball gun

The province of Gelderland is not allowed to use paintball guns to scare away a wolf in the Noord-Veluwe region for the time being, the District Court in Arnhem decided on Thursday. Faunabescherming, an organization dedicated to the preservation of wildlife, objected to the idea of disturbing the wolf in this way during the case.

The court issued a temporary injunction against the province, and ruled that Gelderland did not present a strong enough argument to substantiate its claim that the wolf has deviant behavior. “Also, the condition that there are no satisfactory alternatives has not been met,” the court stated.

Since the end of January this year, reports have come in about a young wolf who has not shied away from people and vehicles. The province thinks that the wolf is being well fed and, therefore, granted a permit to allow shooting paintballs at wolves displaying deviant behavior in various municipalities.

The preliminary relief judge said that it is unclear what the province has done to protect the wolf, and to prevent people from feeding it. This was the reasoning behind the court's decision to temporarily halt the province's authorization regarding the use of paintball guns.

The injunction will remain in place for at least six weeks to allow the province to more carefully consider Faunabescherming’s objections. Once the province has made a more thorough decision about whether to continue the policy, Faunabescherming can again contest it by filing an appeal within six weeks.

Faunabescherming said it was "very happy" with the court ruling. "We were right on all counts," said Niko Koffeman, the chair of the animal rights club. He said it was a "great victory, but a temporary one."

The province is not acting in the public interest by repeatedly issuing new permits in the wolf issue, he said. "If the province is knocked back again and again, there must be consequences at some point."