When there is a debate about the re-spreading of wolves in Bavaria, Hunting Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) is always at the forefront. On Monday, for example, it was just known that the Federal Nature Conservation Union (BN) had reconsidered its position on predators and is no longer as critical of the shooting of individual wolves that attack grazing animals as before.
Aiwanger immediately announced that he welcomed the BN’s move. “We have to get out of the legal and political wrangling over every single problem wolf,” explained Aiwanger. “We need pragmatic solutions instead of constant disputes on the backs of farmers.” Finally, “in many other regions of Germany we see that wolf attacks lead to the end of the particularly species-appropriate free-range farming of farm animals such as sheep, cattle and horses.”
At the BN they were somewhat surprised by Aiwanger’s statements. On the one hand, it has already been the case in the past that the BN has only insisted that the state government and the authorities adhere to the law when considering the launch. In the cases in which BN boss Richard Mergner and his organization went to court for this, their stance was confirmed. On the other hand, the BN leaves no doubt in its new Wolf Paper that it sees the state government as primarily responsible. “It must ensure that farmers, grazing animals and wolves can live together, especially on the mountain pastures, but also in the rest of Bavaria,” said Mergner on Tuesday when presenting the paper, “by promoting herd protection, better advice and a professional wolf management.”
And what about the opening for wolf shooting? The BN is following what Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) and the Conference of Environment Ministers of the federal states decided in December. According to this, a wolf should be allowed to be shot after a single attack on grazing animals in an area with an increased number of cracks. Provided that the herd was actually protected against such an attack and the predator got past the fence. The shooting permit, which no longer requires genetic proof of the wolf in question, is valid 21 days after the attack and within a thousand meters of the affected pasture. What constitutes an area of increased cracking remains to be determined.
The BN has adjusted this position for the mountain pastures and Alps in the Bavarian Alps. In doing so, he wants to do justice to the alpine farmers who are particularly strongly resisting the re-spreading of wolves. The reason: The alpine farmers do not believe wolf-proof fences in the mountains are possible because the pastures there are too extensive and steep for this and the cattle, sheep and goats are used to open pasture. Without the possibility of being able to shoot down predatory wolves in an unbureaucratic manner, many alpine farmers would sooner or later give up alpine farming, say not only Economics Minister Aiwanger and Farmers President Günther Felßner. But also many farmers themselves.
“Our new position is intended to take particular account of the concerns of alpine farmers,” says Mergner. However, one has to differentiate carefully. Cattle that are older than one year are mostly kept on the Alpine pastures in Bavaria. But they are very defensive, says BN wolf expert Uwe Friedel, and are only very rarely attacked by a wolf. The BN therefore considers herd protection fences and other precautionary measures on alpine pastures with older cattle to be dispensable – provided the alpine pastures are herded. In the rare cases in which a wolf still attacks cattle, the BN believes it should be able to be released after the second time. However, for cattle that are younger than one year, a herd protection fence is also necessary on an alpine pasture or mountain pasture, for example around the alpine pasture building
Eight or nine packs in Bavaria
The BN is convinced that when it comes to the sheep and goats on the alpine pastures, the farmers will not be able to avoid putting up protective fences or driving them into a stable or pen at night. This is also possible in most alpine regions, as there are only small groups of three to ten sheep or goats on the alpine pastures. It should remain the case that shooting permits are only possible if a wolf has overcome a protective fence twice. Where protective fences are not possible because, as in Werdenfelser Land, the sheep herds are significantly larger than ten animals, farmers would have to hire professional shepherds. “Of course it takes time for this to work,” said Mergner. “For a transition period of five years, we can therefore imagine shooting permits even if sheep are killed on alpine pastures if there is still no herd protection.”
Incidentally, Werdenfelser Land is the only alpine region in the Bavarian mountains where a wolf pack has established itself. At the moment, however, things are quiet about the parents and their offspring, which is of course because, like everywhere else in the Bavarian mountains, there are no cattle, sheep or other farm animals on the pastures and Alps. The other seven Bavarian wolf packs live far away from the mountains – in the Altmühltal, in the Bavarian Forest, on the military training areas in Wildflecken and Grafenwöhr, as well as in the Veldensteiner Forest, the Manteler Forest and the Pressather Forest. There is also a pair of wolves roaming around in the Rhön, and it is quite possible that the two will become the first parents of the ninth Bavarian pack.
Aiwanger could not be reached on Tuesday. This was expressed by Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) and Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (FW), who is actually responsible for dealing with the strictly protected species. “The BN’s new stance enables the long-overdue discussion about pragmatic solutions on site,” said Glauber. Kaniber made a similar statement, but at the same time rejected the BN. “Both the requirements for herd protection and the removal of wolves must be realistic, practicable and comprehensible,” she said. “The approaches presented by the Federal Nature Conservation Association are not that.”