In just one week, more than 43,000 people have already signed an appeal on the Internet against the release of strictly protected otters in Bavaria. In it, the WWF and the signatories call on Prime Minister Markus Söder and Minister of Agriculture Michaela Kaniber (both CSU) to fully implement species protection again. “Especially in the election campaign – and this year there will be elections in Bavaria – politicians react particularly sensitively to public pressure,” says the appeal. If tens of thousands stand up for the otter and sign, there is a real chance that Söder will stop the hunt.
“We notice that the topic moves people. Otters belong to Bavaria like the Alps and Lederhosen. They are strictly protected, Markus Söder probably didn’t hear the shot,” said Moritz Klose, wildlife expert at WWF Germany. The return of the otter to Bavaria is the result of decades of efforts by nature conservationists. With the granted general power of attorney for the arbitrary removal of otters, the Bavarian state government is now jeopardizing this success.
In all districts of Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate, with the exception of Neumarkt, otters have been able to be removed, i.e. shot, without individual special permits since August 1st. Kaniber justified the step by saying that the “regions that have been particularly shaped by fish farming for centuries” are threatened by the otter.
The German Environmental Aid (DUH) has already announced a lawsuit against the removal permit. It is the first time that a state government has so clearly disregarded the applicable species protection law, emphasized Klose. “The shooting of otters is of little use to the pond keepers. If an otter is removed from a territory, it usually doesn’t take long before another otter occupies the territory that has become free.” In order to settle the conflict, the government should rely on education and better protective measures. “Fences or prevention payments and advice are much more effective in the long term to solve the conflict between otters and pond owners without endangering the otter as a species,” emphasized Klose.
As early as May, the Bavarian Administrative Court had stopped the killing of otters at three fish ponds in the Upper Palatinate, which had been permitted by special permit, as a violation of applicable law.