Wolves are strictly protected in Germany. What is a real success for conservationists is a challenge for grazers. The government wants to regulate coexistence by law. But how?
In the traffic light coalition, the FDP is putting pressure on further regulations to protect sheep and other grazing animals from wolves. It is important to start doing now, said parliamentary group leader Carina Konrad in Berlin. It’s not about exterminating the wolf. But he is “not a stuffed animal” and causes considerable damage to grazing animals. In addition, farmers need planning security.
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP agreed to organize the coexistence of grazing animals, humans and wolves so well “that as few conflicts as possible occur despite the increasing wolf population”. Revised monitoring standards are intended to realistically reflect the number of wolves and enable the federal states to implement regionally differentiated stock management.
As an impetus for legislative proposals, the FDP parliamentary group presented a report it had commissioned on implementation options. The legal scholar Michael Brenner from the University of Jena suggested that the federal and state governments draw up plans for inventory management as a way that conforms with European law. “Acceptance and removal corridors” to be updated annually should then be determined on the basis of established wolf populations. According to this, shooting should be allowed selectively, with approval and specifications – for example, that other measures are not an option and the structure of the population is preserved. One could not “remove” all alpha wolves.
The environmental policy spokeswoman for the Union, Anja Weisgerber (CSU), said: “It’s good that the FDP has now woken up.” You have to deliver now and push for implementation in the government. “We can no longer leave the people in rural areas alone.”
Source: Stern
