Farmers and hunters in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district have been suspecting for weeks that there are a number of wolves around and that there will soon be a pack in the region. Now at least one thing is official: a pair of wolves settled in the two districts at the beginning of the year. You can read about it on the website of the State Office for the Environment. As is usual with predatory animals, the female and the male have found each other during the mating season. It is therefore quite possible that they will have offspring between April and June. That would be the first pack in the Bavarian Alps and the fifth overall in Bavaria.
The pair of wolves is in the area around Oberammergau and out into the Pfaffenwinkel. In the south of its home range are the Ammergau Alps. This is a rather quiet, less frequented mountain range with lots of forest and undisturbed retreat areas, as wolves need it. There are also a lot of red deer, roe deer and chamois in the higher altitudes, so that the predators can make enough prey. So far, the pair of wolves behaved inconspicuously. Although it has apparently been sighted a few times, there are no known attacks on sheep, goats or other livestock. However, there are hardly any farm animals outside during the cold season, this year’s grazing season is just beginning.
Officially called the GW3050f, the fey appears to have only just arrived in the region. Her first genetic evidence based on her scat dates back to October 13, 2022. According to this, the female migrated from a pack from the German-Polish border area. The male or GW2187m was first documented on January 31 – when he was already en route with the female. The male also comes from the German-Polish border area.
Up to four wolves roam the Garmisch-Partenkirchen region with the couple. The other two are males with the official names GW2973m and GW3088m. The last evidence of the two is of course a long time ago, it dates from February 19 of this year or at the turn of the year. In particular, GW3088m may have already moved on.
The dispute over the predators is likely to become even more heated
With the official classification of the Garmisch region, the dispute over the predators there is likely to become more acute. The Garmisch district administrator Anton Speer (FW) had recently officially and formally applied to the government of Upper Bavaria for flat-rate relief for the shooting of the strictly protected predators. He justifies this by saying that the alpine pastures in particular, with their sometimes extremely steep pastures, cannot be protected. Speer repeated the request on Tuesday. “We absolutely need that opportunity, and we need it now,” he said. “When all the sheep are on the mountain pastures in May and the first wolf attacks happen, it’s too late.”
In the Oberland, Speer’s demand met with great approval. These days, one municipality after the other supports the application of the district administrator by municipal council resolution. In the neighboring district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen there are also efforts to join the demand. Nevertheless, it is doubtful that Speer’s application has any chance of success. The wolf is one of the most strictly protected animals. Shooting down is only possible in exceptional cases, above all when there is a concrete danger to life and limb, and then only after a careful examination of the respective case.