Their populations in Europe have been on the rise for a number of years.
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00:00 Wolves are back in Belgium. Their growing presence is creating tension with farmers.
00:08 These pictures were taken with wildlife cameras at a military base by the Institute for Nature
00:12 and Forest Research. In the eastern part of the country, not everyone is happy with their
00:17 presence. This farmer, Ludwig Heinen, owns a dairy farm with 320 cows. He says that there
00:24 are currently three packs of wolves nearby at the Haifens Mountains. So far, his animals
00:29 haven't been put in danger, but he's worried.
00:54 So far this year, in this area, one calf and several sheep have been killed by wolves.
00:59 The leader of the local farmers association says that wolves don't belong in their fields
01:04 and that the debate on wolf hunting in Europe should be reopened. Earlier this year, the
01:10 European Commission called for a review of the protected status of wolves, as it thinks
01:14 the growing population poses a danger to livestock.
01:17 The farmers want as many wolves as they can live in a wild area, where they can feed themselves.
01:27 And if the wolves leave their habitat and go into the cultural landscape and ripen there,
01:33 then they are too many. We want a limitation to be established.
01:38 A wildlife expert following the everyday lives of wolves in Belgium says they represent a
01:43 low risk to the economy. He says it's more to do with humans no longer being used to
01:47 living nearby them.
01:50 The issue is not about economy. The issue is about how does the presence of wolves make
01:55 me feel as a farmer, as a rural actor?
01:59 He says contact between livestock and wolves can be avoided by fences. But even if the
02:05 EU would lower the preservation status of wolves, it wouldn't mean a green light for
02:09 hunting and the problems of farmers would still remain.
02:13 Under these reduced protection levels, you can only hunt if the populations are in a
02:21 healthy situation, in a favorable conservation status. We're not there yet. So changing this
02:27 protection level would not mean that you can hunt these wolves. Populations would still
02:32 need to grow and it wouldn't resolve any of the conflict that is currently at the basis
02:40 of these questions.
02:42 While the debate around wolves becomes heated, Belgium's wolf population, approximately around
02:46 two dozen, is mainly being decimated by road traffic. This young male lived for just six
02:52 months before being hit by a car. This year, he was already the fifth wolf killed on Belgium's
02:59 roads.
03:00 Does it have a name?
03:01 No.
03:02 (whooshing)