Surprising judgment - Bavaria's controversial Wolves Ordinance being revoked
After more than a year, Bavaria's controversial Wolf Regulation is once again before the Bayerisches Verwaltungsgerichtshof: The court has declared the regulations invalid due to a formal error and they may fall this week.
The court has not officially decided on Tuesday, but a court spokesperson informed the German Press Agency on inquiry. The judgment will be issued in the coming days. However, the Senate has already expressed its preliminary legal opinion in the oral hearing: Accordingly, the Wolf Regulation and the accompanying Execution Regulation are invalid due to a formal error or procedural defect.
Court annuls formal error and hasty legislative procedure
The Regulations were issued without the Bund Naturschutz and other recognized nature conservation organizations being involved. However, they have a legal right to participation, which can only be exceptionally and within narrow limits - for example, in cases of imminent danger. The Senate considered the conditions for such an exception as not met.
"For us, it was clear from the beginning that parts of the Wolf Regulation were not tenable. The fact that it now falls due to a formal error doesn't matter much in the end," said the chairman of the Bund Naturschutz, Richard Mergner. The important thing is that Bavaria can return to fact-based and law-abiding wolf management. "That's also good news for cattle farmers."
The controversial regulation came into force on May 1, 2023. It was never applied, but the Wolf is still protected by European and German law.
Fundamental legal question about protection status still open
The fundamental legal question - whether a state regulation can override European and German law - should have been clarified in the proceedings, as formulated by the Bund Naturschutz Bayern (BN) in its complaint. It was initially unclear on Tuesday whether and how the court would express itself on this issue.
"If the Bavarian Administrative Court declares the Wolf Regulation invalid, we will act quickly. We will submit a new Wolf Regulation as soon as possible," announced Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters) on inquiry. Cattle farming is only possible everywhere and in the long term in Bavaria if there is a pragmatic approach to wolves. "That includes the quick shooting of conspicuous wolves."
Considering the strict protection status at the federal and EU levels, Glauber stated that it must be reduced and regional population management must be possible. The responsible minister for hunting, Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters), demanded from the Federal Government the declaration that the wolf in Germany has long since reached a favorable conservation status and therefore should be hunted.
According to the controversial Bavarian regulation, wolves could be shot since May 2023 if they endanger human health or public safety - for example, if they approach humans under 30 meters or if they are seen for more than several days within less than 200 meters of closed settlements, buildings, or barns.
It is possible that the shooting, as stated in the regulation, could also be "to prevent serious agricultural or other serious economic damages." This specifically targeted the Alp and meadow economy in the mountains. In these areas, wolves could be hunted if they killed even a single livestock animal in "unprotected grazing areas." These are areas where herding protection is either impossible or unreasonable.
Bundestag Report Questions Bavarian Wolf Regulation
The Bavarian Wolf Regulation is not only controversial among animal and nature protection activists: A report from the Scientific Service of the German Bundestag had already come to the conclusion that it was not compatible with the applicable federal and EU law. In this report, it is doubted that wolves can be hunted if damages to livestock animals cannot be clearly attributed to them or have not been attributed yet.
There are currently wolves living in ten regions in Bavaria. Since May, according to the Bavarian Environment Agency, there have only been three incidents attributed to wolves: At the end of June, two dead goats in the Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld, and in the same landkreis, a dead sheep in the middle of May.
- The Bavarian Administrative Court, responsible for the 'process (court)', is set to issue judgments on the invalidity of Bavaria's Wolf Regulation due to a formal error.
- Thorsten Glauber, Environment Minister from the Free Voters party in Bavaria, has announced that they will submit a new Wolf Regulation if the Bavarian Administrative Court declares the previous one invalid.
- The European Union and German law continue to protect 'wolves' despite the controversial Bavarian regulation, which has never been applied.
- The chairman of Bund Naturschutz, Richard Mergner, sees the fall of the Wolf Regulation due to a formal error as a step towards fact-based and law-abiding wolf management.
- The Federal Nature Conservation, along with other recognized nature conservation organizations, were not involved in the legislative process of the Wolf Regulation, which the court considers as a procedural defect.
- The German Press Agency reported that the court has expressed its preliminary legal opinion in the oral hearing, stating that the Wolf Regulation and its Execution Regulation are invalid due to a formal error or procedural defect.
- Federal Minister for Hunting, Hubert Aiwanger, has demanded from the Federal Government the declaration that the wolf in Germany has reached a favorable conservation status, enabling regional population management.
