Politicians threatened?

“I didn’t want the she-wolf to die”

One day last summer, a 34-year-old Tyrolean woman went on a rampage and threatened both Josef Geisler (ÖVP) and the entire Tyrolean state government with death via the Tyrolean Hunters' Association. The reason: wolves. Now the woman had to stand trial.

On July 10, the defendant - by her own account very drunk - reached for her cell phone in a very emotional state in the face of the wolf culling issue. "That was during the period when my husband, who had just been released from prison, and I had been drinking for a week," said the woman, who has several previous convictions, describing the circumstances on that afternoon. "That's why I can't remember anything, not even the phone call itself," she explained.

Woman saw herself as a "friend" of the wolves
But she did remember one thing: "I had previously heard about a female wolf in Natters that was to be shot." That had really upset her because, after all, "wolves are living creatures like us", she said at the hearing on Tuesday at Innsbruck Regional Court. She also noted that she "wanted to take the she-wolf in" and that wolves in general "are her friends".

Emotional phone call with threats
"The woman did not seem drunk to me during the conversation", said the witness who took the phone call at the Tyrolean Hunters' Association at the time. She had "neither slurred her words" nor appeared "otherwise impaired". "But she was very emotional and I couldn't calm her down," she said.

Wolves are creatures like us.

Die Angeklagte vor Gericht

Finally, in the course of the steadily escalating conversation, the accused threats were made, in which the woman apparently said that - if the she-wolf was released for shooting - she would also "shoot down" the responsible provincial councillor Geisler and "blow up" the entire provincial government.

Trial adjourned due to husband as witness
The trial was eventually adjourned as the accused Tyrolean woman requested her husband to testify. "He was with me that day and may have overheard the conversation," she argued, adding that he could probably also testify that she was very drunk. The trial is due to continue on May 3.