Conference in Münster
Environment ministers are discussing how to kill wolves more quickly
A wolf stands in the enclosure in the Springe bison enclosure. photo
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
The wolf is the central topic at the conference of the Environment Ministers. Federal Environment Minister Lemke has presented proposals for a quicker shooting of individual animals. These are not enough for some people.
The federal and state environment ministers want to attend their autumn conference in Westphalia Münster advised on a nationwide uniform approach to wolves with behavioral problems. There are three agenda items on the topic of wolves on the agenda of the two-day meeting, which begins today.
A proposal from Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) for faster shooting of individual wolves in Germany is to be discussed. According to her ministry, this does not require any changes to federal law. The states could then implement the shooting rules with or without their own legal regulations. This will be possible soon.
Lemke’s proposal from mid-October stipulates that the federal states designate certain regions with an increased number of attacks by wolves. If a wolf has overcome protective measures such as a fence and killed a grazing animal, it should be allowed to shoot at it for 21 days with an exception – within a radius of 1,000 meters from the pasture. Unlike before, you won’t have to wait for a DNA analysis first. So far, genetic tests based on traces of cracks and erosion have been considered necessary in order to make a kill possible. The farmers’ association criticized Lemke’s proposal as completely inadequate.
Criticism from individual federal states
There was also criticism from individual federal states. In the opinion of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Agriculture and Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD), Lemke’s proposals are too vague to stand up in court. Immediately before the conference, he called for nationwide regulations on how to deal with wolves that have overcome protective fences and killed livestock. In his view, a change to the Federal Nature Conservation Act or a federal wolf regulation is needed to ensure a uniform and EU-compliant approach.
Bavaria’s Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber (Free Voters) also believes that the federal government’s proposals for dealing with wolves are not sufficient. “The shooting of individual conspicuous wolves is already possible today. We don’t need legal advice, we need a change in the law. The federal government must finally do its homework,” said Glauber to the dpa immediately before the start of the conference. “In particular, Bavaria expects the federal government to fully implement the FFH directive in order to enable regionally differentiated population management and to lobby the EU to lower the protection status of the wolf,” he explained.
Brandenburg’s Environment Minister Axel Vogel (Greens), in turn, supports Lemke’s proposal. The federal government and Brandenburg did not consider shooting according to certain quotas to be legally compliant under current federal nature conservation law, said Vogel. Most wolf packs live in Brandenburg (52), followed by Lower Saxony (39) and Saxony (38).
Krischer: “Received acceptance for the wolf overall”
And North Rhine-Westphalia’s Environment Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) also welcomed Lemke’s suggestions. “We are dealing with individual animals that very cleverly overcome herd protection measures. We have to do something about this in order to maintain acceptance for the wolf as a whole,” said Krischer. North Rhine-Westphalia chairs the conference. A new decree is being prepared in North Rhine-Westphalia that will make it easier to shoot wolves. The decree stipulates that genetically identified wolves may be shot if they have overcome intact protective fences of at least 0.90 meters high and killed animals at least twice within a close period of time.
According to the association, around 100 farmers from the region want to demonstrate in front of the conference venue in Münster on Thursday afternoon and talk to NRW Environment Minister Krischer about their demands. This includes better protection of grazing livestock from wolf attacks.