The federal government, as requested by the farmers’ association, has eased the shooting of wolves. In the final step of the legislative process, the Federal Council on Friday agreed to allow “removals” of wolves after depredations on grazing animals even without official authorization. In addition, the federal states may in the future limit the number of wolves in a region as long as the conservation status is classified as favorable. In grazing areas where livestock cannot be reasonably protected against depredations, wolves should even be shot if the conservation status is unfavorable.
With the draft, Federal Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer (CSU) responded in particular to demands from farmers. According to the proposal, around 4,300 livestock were killed or injured by wolves in 2024. At the same time, expenditures for protective measures such as fences amounted to about 23.4 million euros. According to farmers, this puts the particularly animal-friendly pasture-based husbandry under additional pressure.
Previously, after depredations, “problem wolves” could only be hunted with an exceptional permit from the competent authority. Opposed to these permits, conservationists repeatedly sued successfully. Such proceedings are now dropped. Hunters may act “without the authorization of the competent authority” as soon as it is officially established that the depredation was caused by a wolf and the cattle were adequately protected. In principle: “The hunt ends as soon as, within a radius of 20 kilometers around the identified damage site, a wolf has been shot.”
If the respective state has drawn up a “management plan” in a region, all wolves may be shot from July 1 to October 31, as long as the favorable conservation status is not endangered. Currently, the federal government rates the conservation status of the protected species as favorable almost everywhere in the country.
Farmers’ Association Wants to Remove 40 Percent of the Offspring
Local authorities can now also determine that certain grazing areas “due to terrain conditions” cannot protect against wolves. In this context, alpine pastures (Almen) were named, for example. In such designated grazing areas, all wolves may be shot at any time, without individual permit and regardless of the conservation status of the population, to avert serious agricultural, forestry, fishing, or water-management or other serious economic damages.
The secretary general of the German Farmers’ Association, Stefanie Sabet, welcomed the adoption of the changes in the Federal Hunting Act and in the Federal Nature Conservation Act, which will come into force the day after their official publication. “Now we need rapid implementation in the states,” Sabet said. The association demanded “a general and nationwide minimum removal quota of 40 percent of the annual offspring.” The population is currently estimated at 2,000 wolves.
Marie Neuwald, the wolf expert of the Nature Conservation Union (NABU), rejected it. “Instead of simply relying on shootouts, there needs to be much more widespread pastoral protection with fences and – where it fits – guardian dogs,” Neuwald said. “Pastoral protection is what really works, and it is the only reliable way to permanently reduce conflicts.” The figures on depredations also demonstrate this, having declined since 2023 — without hunting.
