Dear European Commission,  

I’m deeply concerned about the future of the wolves in the European Union and Sweden and want to express my opinion in the matter and pass on important facts in line with the Commission’s invitation to do so. 

Europe’s fragile wolf population needs active protection measures from the Commission’s side. The Commission has hitherto been an important guardian of the Union’s nature and returning carnivore populations. A weakening of the wolves’ legal protection at this point could undo years of conservation work and set a harmful example.  

I therefore urge the Commission to strive for maintaining a strict protection of wolves, strengthen supervision and take active measures against Member States that don’t observe the rules in the Habitats Directive. 

Wolves have a considerably positive effect on Swedish nature and ecology. Swedish research reports show for example that remains from prey killed by wolves benefit other species (Wikenros 2011). Wolves prey on weaker specimens of elk in average than hunters (Sand, Wikenros et al. 2012) which shows that the species has an important role as an apex predator in the natural selection: 
https://www.slu.se/globalassets/ew/org/inst/ekol/forskning/projekt/skandulv/publikationer/doktorsavhandlingar/wikenros-2011-the-return-of-the-wolf---effects-on-prey-competitors-and-scavengers.pdf 

https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/z2012-007 

To conclude, I strongly urge the Commission to take action to protect Europe’s valuable wolves, and not weaken the necessary protection. 

Best regards,

Jennie Myrdhén
Frösön