Paintball plan for wolves is rejected

A COURT in the Netherlands has rejected a plan to control the country’s growing wolf population by shooting at the animals with paintball guns to scare them away from people.

The court ruled that officials had not justified their decision to use the novel approach as a safe way to teach the wolves to stay out of populated areas. It said regional authorities had not carried out enough research into other possible solutions.

Farmers claim that wolves have killed dozens of livestock animals.