Eight wolf packs live in Bavaria, and a male and female wolf roam around together in the Hohe Rhön. It is quite possible that the two will become the founding parents of the ninth pack in the Free State. The two are also pretty much the only native wolves that attack flocks of sheep with any degree of regularity. This can be read on the website of the State Office for the Environment, which is responsible for wolf monitoring in Bavaria.
In autumn 2023, the district administrator of the Rhön-Grabfeld district, Thomas Habermann (CSU), therefore gave the go-ahead for the two animals to be shot. He had to withdraw the permit after a small wolf protection organisation obtained a corresponding court ruling. With the exception of the Rhön, there is relatively calm in Bavaria – at least for the time being – around the controversial topic of wolves.
This is surprising, as only a year ago emotions were running high, both at the pubs in the countryside and at political events, whenever the subject of wolves was mentioned. One reason for the new calm is probably that – on the part of the farmers and their most important organization, the Bavarian Farmers’ Association (BBV) – there is a growing realization that the return of wolves is too difficult and complex an issue to be tackled with such simple slogans as Prime Minister Markus Söder’s dictum that “the wolf does not belong in Bavaria.” This was evident at the presentation of the new book by Wolfgang Norer, who teaches public law and rural law as a professor at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland, at the BBV headquarters in Munich.
The book is entitled “Wolf Management in the Alpine Region – Legal Issues Between Species Protection and Grazing” and – at least that’s how BBV Secretary General Carl von Butler put it at the presentation – it has what it takes to become a fundamental work that no one who wants to seriously participate in the debate about the return of wolves to the German-speaking Alpine region can ignore. Not only does it deal with all possible legal aspects of dealing with the strictly protected predator, but it also works out the sometimes subtle differences between the international, European and the respective national regulations that determine why one and the same wolf can be shot on the Polish side of the Polish-German border region, but not on the East German side.
That alone is actually enough material for a basic work. But Norer doesn’t leave it at that. Instead, as the subtitle of his book shows, he tries to strike a balance between species protection and pasture farming. In other words, between the two extreme positions that have so far been irreconcilable in the dispute. Norer’s keyword for this is pasture protection zones. He understands this to mean Alpine regions in which alpine farming must be preserved at all costs, for example for cultural reasons, but where fences and other herd protection are so complex or even so expensive that they are not feasible for farmers there. In such pasture protection regions, at least conspicuous wolves should be able to be shot, and the establishment of wolf packs should be prevented as far as possible. This is what Norer is currently saying at book presentations and in interviews.
Schröder is convinced that alpine farming and wolves can coexist in the mountains
Wolfgang Schröder is a staunch supporter of the lawyer Norer. The 83-year-old forest scientist was a professor of wildlife biology and wildlife management at the Technical University of Munich for many years. Today he is a consultant on conflicts between humans and wolves and other wild animals. Schröder, who gave an introductory speech at the presentation of Norer’s specialist book at the BBV, is convinced that alpine farming and wolves can coexist in the mountains – under one condition: wolves that attack sheep or cattle must be allowed to be shot – and without a long debate. This, according to Schröder’s credo, is the prerequisite for the wolves to remain shy and continue to avoid humans and livestock. As an example, he points to Carinthia, where the number of livestock attacks has been reduced to a “tolerable level” by shooting conspicuous wolves.
And what does the Farmers’ Association think about the return of wolves to the Bavarian mountains? Of course, they are still critical of the return of the predators to Bavaria. But at least the leadership of the BBV has clearly recognized that the loud calls for “wolf-free areas” in the Alps and all the other harsh slogans of recent years have not really helped the alpine farmers. At the presentation of Norer’s book, they were no longer heard. Quite the opposite. BBV General Secretary Butler made it quite clear that the alpine farmers will have to learn to live with the wolf. And that with the result that “they will not be able to continue the previous form of grazing.” In return, Butler, like Norer and Schröder, demanded the possibility of shooting wolves as soon as they attack livestock.