COPENHAGEN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Danish Court of Appeal upheld on Wednesday a guilty verdict in the case of a 67-year-old hunter who had killed a wolf in violation of the country's hunting act.
Wolves have been protected in most of the European Union (EU) countries since 1992. This means that hunting or trapping them is prohibited. Shooting a wolf can result in fines and imprisonment for up to two years.
The hunter, Mourits Troldtoft, was charged with violating the hunting act and shooting the protected animal, a one-year-old female wolf.
Troldtoft was sentenced in 2018 to a suspended jail term of 40 days and simultaneously had his rifle confiscated. However, he still retained his hunting license. Troldtoft immediately appealed the decision claiming the animal was a hybrid wolf and therefore not illegal to shoot.
The Danish Court of Appeal, after reviewing a DNA analysis that showed the animal was indeed a wolf, upheld the decision of the lower court and in addition deprived Troldtoft of his hunting license for two years.
The unique decision marks a precedent in Denmark's legal history.
