Wolf cub shot. Hunter acquitted by court
A hunter from the UK shot a young wolf cub in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Why was he acquitted by a Polish court?
The District Court in Białogard acquitted a hunter who shot a seven-month-old wolf cub while hunting. Wolves are a legally protected species in Poland and the hunter's explanation was bizarre, but he still walked free.
The case was publicised by the "Wilk" ("Wolf") Nature Association on Facebook, where it described the backstory of an incident in November 2021. A British hunter, who had paid for the opportunity to hunt in Poland, shot a young female wolf cub, despite the fact that the species is fully protected in our country.
The hunters adopted a sly narrative arguing that the wolf was behaving "aggressively" therefore the shots were fired in self-defence. In our opinion, his explanation is quite bizarre. At seven months of age, young wolves are dependent on their parents and other adult members of the family group to provide them with food. They do not yet hunt on their own. By human criteria they are about eight years old
The hunter's conviction may have been hampered by the fact that the bullet passed through the wolf on its way out. The bullet could not therefore be found and linked unambiguously to the Briton's weapon. The verdict of the District Court in Białogard is not yet valid.
The "Wilk" Nature Association reported that in recent years hunters have illegally shot at least 13 wolf cubs in Poland, the youngest of which was only five months old. According to WWF, there are only about 2,000 of these endangered animals in our country.
The illegal killing of wolves was commented on by the director of the Institute of Mammal Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Professor Michał Żmihorski. In an interview with oko.press website he alerted that annually at least 147 wolves are illegally killed with firearms and that the number does not include those that fall into snares or die in traffic accidents.
Prof. Żmihorski stressed that 147 is a minimum number, as the detection rate of these cases is low. It is most likely that there are several times more wolves shot every year.
Source: oko.press
