Federal states support Lemke's proposals for faster culling of problem wolves
In future, according to the proposals of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, it will be possible to shoot a wolf that is within a thousand meters of the bite site for 21 days after a bite. This takes account of scientific findings according to which wolves are highly likely to return to the site after a bite during this period, meaning that shooting is likely to hit the animal responsible for the bite.
Several conditions must be met for this to happen: a shooting permit is still required, it is also a matter of "previously defined regions with an increased incidence of predation" and the wolf must have overcome "reasonable herd protection measures" and killed grazing animals. A DNA test will nevertheless be carried out in order to determine retrospectively whether it was "the right wolf", as Lemke explained.
The Environment Minister conceded that the rules "to a certain extent accept" that the right wolf might not be shot. However, this has happened in reality so far and a DNA test is still being carried out. According to Lemke, the plans are in line with EU law. In view of the fact that there had recently been dissatisfaction with the plans, Lemke spoke of a "sign of reconciliation" at the conference.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Environment Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) spoke of a "breakthrough". A more practical and legally secure procedure was "necessary to remove individual wolves with behavioral problems". To this end, it has now been possible to establish a coordinated approach across party lines.
The federal states now want to implement the requirements using their various instruments; Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania want to establish a uniform wolf ordinance across all federal states. "To this end, I have agreed with my colleagues from the states with increased wolf numbers that we will set the necessary course for this before the start of the coming grazing season," said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD).
The federal states are also responsible for determining the regions with an increased incidence of cracks. They are also allowed to take regional differences and special features into account in the herd protection measures, such as dykes or flat land.
Bavaria had criticized Lemke's plans in the past and called for population management for wolves in particular. However, according to the environment ministers, this was only a marginal topic at the conference.
Criticism therefore came from farmers: the resolution "falls far short of the necessary steps", explained the German Farmers' Association, accusing the responsible ministers of refusing to implement population management. Without regulation, the wolf population would "continue to increase exponentially and make it impossible to keep sheep, goats, cattle, horses and agricultural wild animals on pasture for the foreseeable future".
The waiver of genetic identification is only a "tiny screw that has been loosened", explained Jens Schreinicke, the wolf representative of the Brandenburg State Farmers' Association. There are still strict local and temporal restrictions that make it difficult to shoot wolves that cause damage. "We are not regulating the constantly growing wolf population in Brandenburg in this way."
The farmers received support from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The resolutions of the Conference of Environment Ministers were "a slap in the face for grazing livestock farmers whose animals are killed by wolves", explained CSU environmental politician Anja Weisgerber. Only "individual problem wolves" should continue to be hunted. The real problem, the ever-increasing wolf population, would be ignored.
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Source: www.stern.de
