At court trial

Politician accused of saying something about 50 dead wolves

The wolf issue could bring the head of the municipality to court again.(Bild: Krone, Gerhard Schell, Krone KREATIV)

The mayor of Großkirchheim, Peter Suntinger, has already come into conflict with the judiciary over wolves. Now the Association Against Animal Factories is once again pressing charges against the head of the municipality in Carinthia. This time it is about a report of around 50 illegally shot wolves.

Just two weeks ago, Suntinger had to answer to the Vienna provincial court. This was because the mayor awarded the Upper Carinthian municipality a shooting bonus of 2500 euros for every wolf shot (we reported). And at this trial, the local politician had another statement ready to go, which made the Association Against Animal Factories (VGT) furious.

Animal rights activists locate poaching
Suntinger testified at the trial in Vienna that a total of 50 wolves had been poached in the Lienz Dolomites and in the Carinthian Kreuzeck Group. The local politician is also said to have stated that he not only knew about the killings, but also how the killed animals were disposed of. "Suntinger got off with a diversion at the trial because of his shooting bonus for poaching. But he is not at all remorseful. On the contrary, he is provocative and rants about 50 illegally poached animals, which seems to excite him," says Martin Balluch, chairman of the VGT.

And for this reason, the animal rights activists have once again filed charges against the head of the municipality and are even demanding detention if he refuses to testify. "This wild west behavior must be stopped with the strongest means of the rule of law!" said Balluch. 

"That was just an extrapolation"
Suntinger himself sees things somewhat differently to the VGT. "What I said in court was an extrapolation," said the community leader. The "Krone" also confronted Suntinger with the accusation that he knew where the dead animals were disposed of. "We live in a small valley, of course we know about it."