Hunters in Germany will be allowed to shoot wolves on a large scale in the future. According to a bill by Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer (CSU), wolves will be included in hunting rights, making the shooting of wolves legal from July to October, provided that certain quotas are respected. With the proposal, the government is “on the side of the livestock farmers”, according to Minister Rainer.
The number of wolves in Germany has increased significantly in the past twenty years. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are 209 packs in Germany, mainly in Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, with a total of around 1,600 animals. Last year, about 4,300 farm animals were killed by wolves, mainly sheep and goats, according to ministry figures. The ministry says it has paid 780,000 euros to livestock farmers in compensation, and that millions of euros have been invested in fences and electricity wires.
Currently, wolves in Germany are only shot if they cause problems. This mainly concerns animals that attack livestock. The same applies in the Netherlands: wolf hunting is in principle prohibited, but an exemption from culling can be granted for wolves that exhibit undesirable or dangerous behavior.
In the future, wolf behavior in the summer months will no longer be a factor in Germany, although such ‘problem wolves’ should also be easier to shoot outside the hunting season. According to an estimate by the ministry, around 150 to 300 wolves could be killed per year from now on. Hunters’ association Deutscher Jagdverband (DJV) states that the number of young animals per year must be “reduced” by 40 percent.
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Nature conservation organizations think the proposal is nonsensical. “Hunting can endanger wolf populations and does not prevent wolves from killing farm animals,” says the Nature Conservation Association (NABU). “Fewer wolves do not automatically mean fewer dead herd animals.”
There is a lot of skepticism about the idea that sizing helps protect herd animals. Biologist Gesa Kluth says in weekly magazine Der Spiegel: “In most wolf territories in Germany, farm animals are only occasionally attacked.” Most wolves, according to Kluth, eat deer and wild boars and thus have an important function for forest renewal, because deer and boars otherwise damage young trees.
Another argument against hunting wolves is that a hunted population produces more offspring, and that a wolf population with more young eats more farm animals.
The ministry first wanted to open the hunt during the winter months. The hunting association objected to this, because during that period it would not be possible to properly distinguish between young and adult wolves. According to the hunters, this could disrupt pack structures to such an extent that the packs would kill more farm animals.
It is not yet known when the new rules will come into effect: the bill must still be adopted by the Bundestag and the Federal Council.
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