From BZ/dpa
Hunters shot far fewer animals in Brandenburg’s forests this season than in previous years. This was announced by the state hunting association on Wednesday.
Wild populations have declined dramatically. According to the association, there was a large-scale hunt in the Uckermark (Vietmannsdorf district), for example, in which 50 hunters returned “without prey”.
The President of the Brandenburg State Hunting Association (based in Michendorf), Dirk-Henner Wellershoff, said according to the announcement: “Apparently, the trend of declining game stocks and thus also declining numbers of routes in Brandenburg, which has already been recognizable in the hunting reports of the state government over the last ten years, is increasing significantly.”
In many places, according to the association, hunters have recorded declines in the “hunting distance” (the entire hunted game, the editor) of over 90 percent in some cases in recent weeks.
► In the 2012/13 hunting year, 73,875 deer were shot in Brandenburg, in the last hunting year 2021/22 the distance with 52,551 animals shot decreased by 28 percent.
► There was also a decline of 29 percent in red deer – i.e. deer. Last year, 7,044 animals were shot, in 2012/13 there were 9,964. According to the association, deer are the largest wild species native to Brandenburg.
The State Hunting Association cited more intensive hunting of deer and deer to support forest conversion as one reason for the decline. African swine fever is one reason for wild boar. Among other things, the association called for a reassessment of the game population situation in Brandenburg.
There has been a dispute for a long time about the plans of Brandenburg’s Minister of Agriculture, Axel Vogel (Greens), to change the hunting law. Among other things, he wants to achieve better regulation of the wildlife population and strengthen forest conversion towards mixed forests. Among other things, severe damage caused by browsing by game that eats young shoots was mentioned.
The state hunting association rejected the ministry’s plans, and several organizations described them as “anti-wildlife”. The draft law was revised again, but the criticism has not yet died down.