Wolf cull goes ahead as court rejects appeal
A court on Friday has left in force an October 31 order by the state Environmental Board for a wolf cull quota of 84.
The first-tier Tallinn Administrative Court rejected an interim relief request by NGO Eesti Suurkiskjad, finding the case did not present such an urgent need for interim relief that this would outweigh preventing the damage likely to arise from a ban on hunting.
This damage, the court found, would be the financial burden on the state and third parties for compensating wolf-related damages, as well as risks to human life and well-being.
Wolf hunting season lasts November to February. Last year the cull was put on pause from the start of the season to Christmas time, following an appeal from the same NGO.
In its recent ruling the court relied on a report from the Environmental Agency, a separate entity from the board, which noted managing wolf numbers means 20–25 wolf litters present on mainland Estonia by fall 2026.
In 2023, 39 litters were counted, exceeding the recommended upper limit set in the action plan, while in 2024 the figure was 31 litters, while the court cited reliable information of the current figure being around 25 litters.
The court noted that the applicant seeks to halt wolf hunting for the entire 2025/2026 hunting season. This means the case is unlikely to reach a final judgment before the end of season, meaning the applicant would achieve their goal before the fact.
The more damage wolves cause, the more negative their public image may turn, which may even lead to illegal hunting or poaching, the court said.
The court also referred to precedent; a second tier circuit court ruling which found interim relief to be unjustified and claims of an extinction threat to the wolf population in Estonia to be exaggerated
The annual growth of Estonia's wolf population would be 30 to 50 percent without hunting, while cull quotas in previous years have been significantly higher than the current 84 individuals, the court found.
An additional argument for a wolf cull is last summer's African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, which necessitated the culling of wild boar, a staple of wolves' diets. Reduced numbers of boar may mean an uptick in hungry wolves encroaching on human settlement and attacking livestock.
This year's bear cull was in October also halted.
The court stressed the ruling is a preliminary assessment and not a decision on the merits, while more precise data on wolf litter numbers will be available if and when snow cover arrives nationwide.
The ruling has not yet entered into force and may be appealed to the Tallinn Circuit Court within 15 days.
South Lääne County district cull quota took minutes to fill
Hunters in Lääne County started their cull on Saturday and needed only nine minutes to use up all three wolf-hunting permits allocated to their area, Lääne Elu reported.
All three animals were shot on the edge of the Marimetsa bog near the village of Kalju, in the South Lääne County hunting zone (the North Lääne County zone has a wolf cull quota of one this year).
Erki Smitt, head of the Kullamaa hunting and fishing society, said the morning reconnaissance and setting up the flag lines took the nearly 30 hunters involved more time than the actual hunt, adding that there are more animals in the area, but since the quota is used up these must be left alone.
There is a seven-strong wolf pack living near Kalju village, aand nother pack is roaming from Kullamaa toward Laiküla, Smitt said.
The 84-wolf quota is distributed across 20 hunting zones, with the Pärnu-Viljandi are having the largest number, at 12, allocated to it. For most other zones the quota is in single-figures for this year, though no wolves may be hunted on the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa this year.
Editor's note: This piece was updated to include information on the distribution of cull quotas and the hunt in South Lääne County.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Marko Tooming
