A unit from the fire brigade is now diesel right next to the alpine hut, and headlights illuminate the gate at night. The Garmisch pasture companions pulled it to protect their sheep. This is how Hans Hibler describes the scenery on the Stepbergalm above Garmisch. Hibler is chairman of the Werdenfelser mountain sheep breeders, he had his own sheep until Tuesday five kilometers further in the valley between Brünstlkopf and Notkarspitze. That evening, however, the pasture comrades from Farchant drove off their animals in a hurry, because the night before two sheep had been bitten to death and two injured so badly that they had to be shot to release them. On Wednesday evening, Farchant’s Mayor Christian Hornsteiner (CSU) and Garmisch District Administrator Anton Speer (FW) sent an open letter with a demand that Bavaria’s mountain farmers have been hearing for a long time, but is now being raised with new urgency: the wolf must go .
They would agree with several state ministers and the prime minister, who have recently called for easier shooting on all sorts of alpine pasture tours. But now something has to happen, Hibler demands. Was it really a wolf that raged among the Farchanter sheep and killed half a dozen animals on the Stepbergalm the previous Friday? That crack was immediately a hot topic in the beer tent at the Trachtler-Gaufest on Sunday in Partenkirchen, and there is great agreement in the Werdenfelser Land. Mayor Hornsteiner and District Administrator Speer are not committed to the wolf in their letter. They call on the state government to “immediately adopt measures for the possibility of removing large carnivores”. You need the alpine farmers to preserve the cultural landscape. At the moment, however, it looks as if the wolf, bear, lynx and jackal will prevail.
Fences and dogs are designed to protect herds
Because wolves, bears and lynx are strictly protected, and the recently immigrated golden jackal is not yet subject to hunting rights. Just a week ago, the State Office for the Environment, which is currently also examining the cases from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district, confirmed the first jackal tear, four lambs near Huglfing in the Weilheim-Schongau district. There is no state compensation in this case – but there is for every animal killed by wolves, bears or lynxes. Conservationists also emphasize the possibility of protecting herds with fences and dogs.
But that is impossible in the mountains, say the farmers. Hans Hibler sees it that way too. Sheep breeding is above all a passion for many Werdenfelsers. There are probably around 6,000 sheep in the region, says Hibler. Most keepers have maybe a dozen animals, and all the sheep in a cooperative spend the summer on the alpine pasture. But if you don’t know that your sheep are safe from tears, you may soon no longer drive them up there. Anyway, it’s going downhill now. The Farchanter sheep are already in the valley, the Garmischer are to follow at the weekend.