Overview
- The court held that killing wolves is lawful only as a last resort to prevent livestock damage and must follow a prior examination of reasonable non-lethal alternatives.
- In cassation, the justices confirmed the Cantabrian high court’s annulment of 2022 authorizations to extract wolves issued when the species was under special protection.
- The justices annulled Asturias’ annual wolf control program, stressing that captures cannot be preplanned in general management plans and require case-by-case authorization.
- The decisions require verification of a favorable conservation status across the species’ wider range and mandate strictly selective measures rather than indiscriminate quotas.
- The court criticized the 2025 legal change for confusing drafting as a constitutional challenge proceeds, while a separate order left Cantabria’s 2025/2026 extraction quota in force by rejecting an appeal.