Wolf shooting - Court banned wolf hunt at Elbdike in Stade
The Administrative Court Stade has stopped the planned shooting of a wolf in the district. The Chamber came to the conclusion that the objection against the granted exception permit according to the current status will be successful, as the court announced. The decision is not legally binding. It has meanwhile been appealed to the Lower Saxony Administrative Court (OVG).
The Administrative Court Oldenburg had already decided that no wolf shooting is allowed at the North Sea coast in the Landkreis Aurich for the time being.
After repeated sheep attacks on the Elbdeich, Environmental Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) welcomed the quick shooting. Wolves that had repeatedly damaged protected livestock, approached people in a suspicious manner, or, like in Stade, threatened the dike and high water protection, had to be removed without endangering the species protection, Meyer recently stated: "The dike and high water protection through sheep at the dike has the highest priority for me". His ministry supported the district technically and confirmed that the wolf population was not endangered by the shooting of a predator.
Controversial shooting regulation
However, the court in Stade now decided that it had not been sufficiently proven that further herd protection measures were feasible. The minimum height of a protective fence for sheep staying on the dike was also not clear to the judges. Similarly, it had not been shown why, in the concrete case, a water-side fence could not be implemented technically or was not feasible.
In late April and early March, several dead sheep were found on the Elbinsel Hahnöfersand belonging to the community of Jork, which were apparently killed by a wolf. The sheep were grazing, according to the county, behind a fence over one meter high on the dike directly at the Elbe.
On the procedure for faster wolf shootings, the Federal Government and the States had agreed in 2023. Previously, after a wolf attack, a DNA analysis had to be waited for and only the wolf that had killed the grazing animal was allowed to be shot. Under certain conditions, shootings are now possible without determining the identity. The land wanted to apply this regulation for the first time in the Hanover region. The OVG in Lüneburg eventually stopped the permit.
- Christian Meyer, the Environmental Minister from Lower Saxony, supported the district's decision to conduct a quick wolf shooting, citing the importance of dike and high water protection.
- The administrative court in Stade halted the planned wolf shooting, as they believe that further herd protection measures were not sufficiently proven.
- In the district of Aurich, along the North Sea Coast, no wolf shooting is permitted at the moment, as per the ruling of the Administrative Court Oldenburg.
- The court in Stade raised concerns about the minimum height of a protective fence for sheep on the dike and the feasibility of implementing a water-side fence in the specific case.
- The district had appealed to the Lower Saxony Administrative Court (OVG) after the Administrative Court Stade's decision not to allow the wolf shooting.
- The OVG in Lüneburg previously stopped a permit for faster wolf shootings in the Hanover region due to certain conditions not being met.
- Multiple dead sheep were found on the Elbinsel Hahnöfersand belonging to the community of Jork, suspected to have been killed by a wolf, despite their enclosure behind a fence over one meter high on the dike.
