Gelderland still can't shoot wolves with paintball guns, court rules

The court continues to prohibit the shooting of wolves with paintball guns for the time being. According to the court, the province of Gelderland, which wants to do so, still hasn’t sufficiently substantiated why it is necessary to shoot a wolf that approaches people with a paintball gun and whether there are no better resources or measures to deter the animal. The court gave Gelderland six weeks to substantiate its arguments better. After that, the preliminary relief judge will consider the case again, the court decided on Friday.

The province devised a plan to use paintball guns on wolves when a wolf roaming around De Hoge Veluwe National Park started to approach people. Animal rights organization De Faunabescherming immediately objected. Since then, the court provisionally banned shooting wolves with paintball guns. And the court is still not convinced that Gelderland can ignore the strict protection rules surrounding protected species like the wolf. The European rules prescribe that the protected animal may not be disturbed, chased off, or killed.

According to the court, the province has not sufficiently mapped out that the wolf in question exhibits problematic behavior. The court said that would require the opinion of a wolf expert, which the province didn’t get. It can’t be excluded that the animal involved was a young wolf showing naturally curious behavior. And there is no expert determination that it was always the same wolf.

The judge also found that the province paid insufficient attention to alternatives to shooting the animal with a paintball gun. De Faunabescherming made several proposals, including banning eating in the park, ensuring that park visitors don’t try to lure the animal, and closing off part of De Hoge Veluwe, but the province brushed that aside. The court ordered the province to investigate the suggestions and provide precise reasons why they are not good solutions and why shooting the protected species was still necessary. The court understands that the province wants to prevent “things really going wrong between man and wolf one day,” but it needs to do the due diligence.

Gelderland must let the court know within two weeks whether it intends to provide additional information. If the province decides to do so, De Faunabescherming and De Hoge Veluwe National Park will get the opportunity to respond. The court will then decide how to proceed with the case.