Minister of Environment Simonas Gentvilas has approved the wolf hunting limit for the new hunting season – 341 wolves will be allowed to be hunted as in the previous season.

The wolf hunting season starts on 15 October and runs until 31 March. The wolf hunting season closes earlier if the wolf hunting limit is exhausted. Although the same limit was set last hunting season, only 281 wolves were hunted.

According to the Hunting Regulations, the hunting limit for wolves is approved by the Minister of the Environment on the basis of the principles set out in the Wolf Conservation Plan, in order to ensure a favourable conservation status for the wolf species. The drafting of the proposal was based mainly on genetic and productivity studies of wolves hunted between 2023 and 2024, carried out by scientists from the Academy of Agriculture of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), and on the provision in the Wolf Conservation Plan that, if the population exceeds the limit of 62 families, the use of the population shall be planned in such a way as to ensure that it will be evenly reduced to, and maintained within, the limit of 32 to 62 families.

Genetic and age studies of hunted wolves have revealed that the hunted pups are from 69 non-closely related groups (families). 64 wolf families have been identified on the basis of genetic and age studies of hunted wolves in 2022-2023, i.e. the genetic studies have shown that the number of families in the country has been increasing slightly in the recent years.

However, the biodiversity database of the State Service for Protected Areas recorded significantly fewer reports of wolf presence between 2023 and 2024. These data showed twice as many colonies as in the previous hunting season. This large difference in data is attributed to a decrease in reporting activity, but not to an actual decrease in wolf abundance. Therefore, genetic surveys are considered to be a more reliable source of data, demonstrating a further slight increase in the number of wolf families.

Since the number of wolves is very similar to last year, and the Wolf Conservation Plan obliges to plan the use of the population above safe limits in such a way as to ensure a steady reduction of the wolf population, the wolf hunting limit has been set at the same level as last year.

The damage caused by wolves to farm animals has remained relatively high in recent years. By 16 September 2024, €131,000 has been paid out in compensation for damage caused by wolves to farm animals, €112,908 by 12 September 2023 and €127,137 by 20 September 2022 to compensate livestock farmers.

The results of the research carried out by the VMU Academy of Agriculture on wolves hunted in the 2023–2024 hunting season are published on the State Service for Protected Territories website website.

The Order of the Minister of the Environment "On the approval of the limit for wolf hunting during the hunting season 2024–2025“ is available here.