Evidence-based hunting policy needed in Slovakia
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62156489%3A43410%2F20%3A43918693" target="_blank" >RIV/62156489:43410/20:43918693 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf5155" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf5155</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abf5155" target="_blank" >10.1126/science.abf5155</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Evidence-based hunting policy needed in Slovakia
Original language description
The Swiss people recently rejected a law that would have allowed protected animals to be hunted (1), but hunting of vulnerable species such as wolves still occurs in Slovakia and elsewhere in Europe. The European Union's Habitats Directive allows deliberate killing of wolves in nine countries (2) unless hunting would threaten the sustainability of the population, but population data are inadequate in some countries. Slovakia must implement evidence-based policies to protect wolf populations. In 2016, Slovakia made changes to increase wolf hunting regulation and improve population monitoring (3). However, the changes have not been implemented nationally. Recently, the Slovak Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved a quota of 50 wolves for the upcoming winter season (4). Such policies should be based on a scientific assessment of the viability of wolf populations (5). Instead, the Ministry justified the number by citing misleading arguments about sheep farming and food security (4). In contrast to the government's claims, wolves kill less than 0.1% of Slovakia's sheep and goats (3). The recent policy also fails to acknowledge that sheep breeding in Slovakia declined between 2009 and 2019, when 28 to 158 wolves were killed per year, suggesting that hunting did not mitigate the problem (6). The food security justification is also specious: Sheep and goat products are only a small part of Slovak diet and accounted for less than 0.4% of gross agricultural production in the past 10 years (7). Instead of relying on misleading justifications for hunting, Slovakia should find alternative methods to minimize the risk of damages from large carnivores. However, the country has so far opted not to use EU funds available for this purpose (8). Policies in Slovakia target wolves as the only source of problems in the agricultural sector and ignore the market-based causes of the sheep decline that have been shown elsewhere in Europe (9, 10). Although wolf numbers are trending positively in Europe (11), Slovak hunting affects wolf recovery in neighboring Czechia, where the wolf population is protected (12). Without reliable evaluation of hunting impact, Slovakia cannot make informed policy decisions, despite the country's nominal adherence to EU regulations. Slovakia's failure to collect adequate data and base policy on science is a dangerous precedent that undermines biodiversity conservation efforts in Europe and worldwide.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
40102 - Forestry
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2020
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Science
ISSN
0036-8075
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
370
Issue of the periodical within the volume
6521
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
1
Pages from-to
1174
UT code for WoS article
000596071300020
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85097124207