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BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – For years it has been an ongoing topic in Germany: dealing with the wolf. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) now wants to make it easier to shoot the animals and thus better protect sheep, for example. “It must be possible to kill wolves after cracks more quickly and with less bureaucracy,” Lemke told the “Welt” on Monday.
“When dozens of sheep are killed and lie dead on the pasture, it is a tragedy for every grazer and a great burden for those affected.” She wants to make concrete proposals at the end of September. The Federal Ministry for the Environment explained that it is already possible to kill wolves that have repeatedly overcome reasonable herd protection measures such as fences. The approval and the way there are too bureaucratic, said a spokesman on Monday in Berlin. That should now be changed.
However, the implementation of the project is complicated: In Germany, the federal states are responsible for wolf management. To date, wolves have enjoyed a high level of protection under both federal and EU law. In some regions, however, there are doubts as to whether the protection status is still justified due to larger populations.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) was also open to lowering the strict protection status of wolves at the end of July. On Monday, she announced that she would systematically collect data on wolf populations from all over Europe by September 22nd. A registration office has been set up. “The more data we get from the local and regional level about stocks and events with wolves, the more precise the picture, the easier it is to check the protection status,” von der Leyen said. The evaluation of the data should be completed by the end of the year at the latest. Then it should be decided whether a proposal to lower the protection status will be made.
The Commission President herself has a personal connection to the subject: a wolf killed her 30-year-old pony near Hanover about a year ago.
According to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, European legislation will not be affected at all by Lemke’s proposal: “The wolf remains an animal that needs to be protected.” Within the framework of national legislation, however, there are possibilities for changes. For example, a “practical guide” is in view, which is the basis for the kills to be approved by the federal states. Proposals for this should be discussed with the environment ministries of the federal states from this Tuesday.
The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) is critical of the announced launch relief. “Experiences from other EU countries clearly show that tears cannot be permanently reduced with a rifle,” said BUND wolf expert Uwe Friedel. The number of wolves is not decisive for the number of grazing animals killed, but the number of unprotected herds of grazing animals. “Most cracks on grazing animals in Germany happen on animals without herd protection,” said Friedel. The BUND regrets that herd protection is being neglected.
The German Nature Conservation Union (Nabu) is also of the opinion that hunting wolves cannot replace livestock protection. “Because it doesn’t matter whether five or eight wolves live in a region: they pose a risk for unprotected grazing animals. Hunting does not mean that wolves keep a greater distance from grazing animals,” said Marie Neuwald, the officer for wolves and grazing. However, she warned against misinterpreting Lemke’s initiative. “It’s clearly about the few cases in which wolves overcome good herd protection and kill grazing animals.” Nevertheless, it is essential “that the shooting of a strictly protected animal is the last resort if there are no reasonable alternatives. Herd protection remains the be-all and end-all”.
The General Secretary of the German Farmers’ Association, Bernhard Krüsken, is skeptical about Lemke’s initiative. “In our opinion, this is more of a smoke screen. A rhetorical concession to facilitate the removal of individual problem animals is cosmetic and is no longer sufficient,” he told the German Press Agency on Monday. “We need an official declaration that favorable conservation status has been reached, a reclassification of conservation status and real wolf management.”
Especially in Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony, the wolf, which was wiped out in Germany in the middle of the 19th century, has spread again since its return around the turn of the millennium. It happens again and again that wolves also kill farm animals such as sheep, goats and calves.
With reference to the wolf monitoring 2021/2022, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation puts the number of wolves detected in Germany at around 1200. The animals lived accordingly in 161 herds. There were also 43 pairs of wolves and 21 sedentary solitary wolves. According to Nabu, there have been 13 officially approved killings of wolves since 2000. According to the federal documentation and advice center on wolves (DBBW), three wolves were killed in 2023 as part of what is known as stock management.
Of the farm animals killed and injured by wolves in Germany in 2022, 88.6 percent were sheep and goats, 4.2 percent were wild game and 6 percent were cattle. The number of injured and killed farm animals was less than 500 in 2014, and more than 4000 in 2022 according to DBBW./ram/DP/ngu