Environment ministers discuss faster shooting of wolves
At their autumn conference in Münster, Westphalia, the federal and state environment ministers want to discuss a uniform nationwide approach to wolves with behavioral problems. There are three items on the agenda for the two-day meeting, which begins today.
A proposal by Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) for faster shooting of individual wolves in Germany is to be discussed. According to her ministry, this does not require any changes to federal legislation. The federal states could then implement the shooting rules with or without their own legal ordinances. This would be possible in a timely manner.
Lemke's proposal from mid-October provides for the federal states to define certain regions with increased wolf predation. If a wolf has overcome protective measures such as a fence and killed a grazing animal, it should be allowed to be shot for 21 days by special permit - within a radius of 1000 meters around the pasture. Unlike in the past, it will not be necessary to wait for a DNA analysis. Until now, genetic examinations based on bite and feeding marks have been considered necessary to allow shooting. The farmers' association criticized Lemke's proposal as completely inadequate.
Criticism from individual federal states
Criticism also came from individual federal states. According to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Agriculture and Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD), Lemke's proposals are too vague to stand up in court. Immediately before the conference, he called for nationwide regulations on how to deal with wolves that have climbed over protective fences and killed livestock. In his view, an amendment to the Federal Nature Conservation Act or a federal wolf ordinance would be needed to ensure a uniform and EU-compliant approach.
Bavaria's Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters) also believes that the federal government's proposals for dealing with wolves are not sufficient. "The shooting of individual conspicuous wolves is already possible today. We don't need legal advice, we need a change in the law. The federal government must finally do its homework," Glauber told dpa immediately before the start of the conference. "In particular, Bavaria expects the federal government to fully implement the Habitats Directive in order to enable regionally differentiated population management and to lobby the EU to lower the protection status of the wolf," he explained.
Brandenburg's Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens), on the other hand, supports Lemke's proposal. According to Vogel, the federal government and Brandenburg do not consider shooting wolves according to certain quotas to be legally compliant with current federal nature conservation law. Most wolf packs live in Brandenburg (52), followed by Lower Saxony (39) and Saxony (38).
Krischer: "Maintain overall acceptance of the wolf"
North Rhine-Westphalia's Environment Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) also welcomed Lemke's proposals. "We are dealing with individual animals that are very adept at overcoming herd protection measures. We must do something about this in order to maintain acceptance of the wolf as a whole," said Krischer. North Rhine-Westphalia chairs the conference. A new decree is being prepared in NRW to make it easier to shoot wolves. The decree stipulates that genetically identified wolves may be shot if they have climbed over intact protective fences of at least 0.90 meters in height at least twice in close temporal proximity and killed animals.
According to the association, around 100 farmers from the region plan to demonstrate outside the conference venue in Münster on Thursday afternoon and discuss their demands with NRW Environment Minister Krischer. These include better protection of grazing livestock from wolf predation.
At the upcoming discussions during the autumn conference in Münster, Environment Minister Steffi Lemke plans to advocate for the consideration of faster shooting of problematic wolves, following her proposal from October. Despite some criticism from federal states, like Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Till Backhaus and Bavaria's Thorsten Glauber, who believe a change in the law or a uniform regulation is needed, Brandenburg's Axel Vogel supports Lemke's proposition.
Source: www.dpa.com
