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Will the wolf become prey? Dispute over regulation in northern Germany!
Political dispute over wolf management in northern Germany: Ministers are calling for changes to the Federal Hunting and Nature Conservation Act.
Will the wolf become prey? Dispute over regulation in northern Germany!
The political dispute over how to deal with wolves in northern Germany has heated up. At the center of the discussion is Federal Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer's (CSU) plan to include wolves in the Federal Hunting Act. The goal? It should be possible to hunt it in certain pasture areas in the future. But this requires a change to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, and the big question here is whether the SPD-led Federal Environment Ministry, which is currently in talks, will go along with it. Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is pushing for clarity - he wants to know where he stands by the next grazing season, which begins in May.
Both federal states, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, have a large number of wolf packs, and the ministers are calling for “regionally differentiated population management”. While Lower Saxony's Agriculture Minister Miriam Staudte (Greens) rejects a blanket upper limit for wolves, Hamburg's red-green government supports her position. Nevertheless, the Prime Ministers of Lower Saxony and Hamburg have decided to call on the federal government to create a legal basis for the regulation of wolf populations.
Attacks on farm animals are increasing
What makes the discussion particularly explosive are the numbers: between July and September, 78 attacks on farm animals were recorded in Lower Saxony. The Cuxhaven district was severely affected with the most incidents. This has brought the urgency of the issue into focus, especially since the wolf population in Lower Saxony is now considered favorable, a situation that was not the case before.
Active wolf management at a glance
Jörn Ehlers, spokesman for the Action Alliance for Active Wolf Management (AAW), sees the discussion as an opportunity to adapt the Bern Convention. His goal is to change the EU's FFH directive and establish active, legally secure wolf management in Germany. He emphasizes the need for legal steps that must offer grazing livestock farmers in Lower Saxony a perspective.
Ehlers and Peter Zanini, managing directors of the Central Association of Hunting Cooperatives and Own Hunts in Lower Saxony (ZJEN), criticize that too much time has been lost. The wolf has now multiplied at the expense of the grazing animals. They are calling for urgent measures for a practical and legally secure shooting procedure for aggressive wolves. In addition, the full implementation of European nature conservation law in Germany is also called for, especially with regard to the exceptions to strict species protection to regulate the wolf population.
The demand for an immediate report of the favorable conservation status of wolves in Germany to the European Commission underlines the urgent need for a clear legal framework. There will certainly be a lot of movement here in the near future - agriculture, grazing livestock farmers and politicians will be keeping a close eye on what comes of the discussions.