The Europe office spent most of the last months preparing for the conference in Barcelona. We were delighted our efforts paid off as the conference was very successful. Many colleagues commented on the BIWFC role in acting as a hub, connecting people, ideas and disciplines and this was indeed reflected in the excellent media coverage in mainstream
Regulatory framework for wildlife contraceptives
The Center for Wild Animal Welfare (CWAW), a new organisation dedicated to building policy support for wild animal welfare, identified rodent fertility control as one of their work priority areas.
CWAW has already engaged with the European Commission in response to a consultation on biocides. Current EU regulations make registration of new drugs for wildlife, such as contraceptives,
extremely costly and lengthy. Under “safety data” most regulations require new drugs to have little or no impact on reproduction, which is obviously the raison d’être of contraceptives. Rodenticides are registered as biocides and plant protection products despite high mammalian toxicity because their purpose is killing rodents. The document also suggests that the EC should support innovation towards
higher-welfare alternatives to rodenticides, including fertility control.
Fertility control to secure the future of Europe’s beavers?
This article reports on a study by Simon Moesch and Maximilian Hohm examining public attitudes toward beavers in Germany. While the general public viewed beavers positively, people working in forestry and agriculture, as well as those living in flood-affected areas, were more critical. Participants from Bavaria — the German state with the highest beaver densities — also viewed beavers more negatively than those from the rest of Germany. The authors highlighted the need for active beaver management and increased public engagement to support positive coexistence between
beavers and humans in Germany.
UK: a royal blessing
From an article in Vet Times we learned that King Charles has made a donation to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust to continue supporting research on grey squirrel fertility control. The king has endorsed this project since its inception, when the project was launched at his royal residence. His Majesty’s views are reflected in a recent YouGov poll which found 42% of the > 5000 respondents supported the idea of making grey squirrels infertile, while 31% were opposed.
France: wild boar hunters talk about fertility control
A recent article by Le Chasseur Français, a leading hunting publication, referenced the BIWFC conference in Barcelona and most importantly mentioned the idea that fertility control could be used to manage wild boar. This is a main step for the hunting community in France, traditionally focused on culling as the sole means of controlling the expansion of this species. According to the National Federation of Hunters in 2024/2025 French hunters culled 881,372 wild boar versus fewer than 100,000 in the early ‘80s.
Germany
According to the newspaper Taz, animal activists have repeatedly sabotaged rodent control, destroying traps and verbally attacking city workers in Berlin. The District Council for Urban Development has called a public meeting to discuss this issue, but interest has been low. The rat problem is mainly due to human behaviour: people dispose food scraps and feed pigeons with massive amounts of bird food which is also welcomed by these rodents. No mention of fertility control but fertile ground for …infertility?
Giovanna Massei
