In future there will be no upper limit for the shooting of roe deer: This is part of the planned amendment to the Federal Hunting Act.
“Those responsible” should “regulate the shooting themselves on site”.
There is resistance to this draft - also from the Bavarian Hunting Association and animal protection associations.
Their representatives from Garmisch-Partenkirchen see the change in the law as a risk that the game will be at the mercy of arbitrariness and economic interests even more than before.
District - The discussion is not new: Forest before game?
Forest and game?
Too much shooting?
Or too little?
What is more important?
Economic interests?
Timber marketing?
Or protection of animals?
Opinions of interest groups, associations, authorities and private individuals differ on these questions.
In the past, the shooting quotas set in district offices on the basis of - often controversial - browsing reports have come under criticism.
A few hunters even complained that they could no longer meet the quota.
Many forest owners, however, spoke out in favor of a higher kill because of the plant bite.
Forest of game?
Or forest and game?
The amendment to the Federal Hunting Act is the result of the “Forest Summit” by Federal Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) in September 2019. “With the new law, we want to achieve a sustainable balance between forest and game and ensure that young plants can grow without fence protection.
That is crucial for a climate-resistant forest conversion, ”said Klöckner.
Your idea of defining a minimum shooting, abolishing the upper limits set by the authorities for roe deer and allowing those responsible such as hunting cooperatives and landowners to regulate the shooting on their own responsibility is a slap in the face for many animal and nature conservationists.
In their eyes, the change in the law serves purely for the timber industry.
"Wild animals fall victim to economic interests"
Resistance builds up.
Among other things, the Animal Welfare Association and the Bavarian Hunting Association are calling for an upper limit to be maintained when shooting in order not to finally sacrifice the deer to economic interests.
“The wild fauna is an essential part of nature.
It must be preserved in its diversity as part of the natural structure of action. ”Thomas Bär, chairman of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district group of the Bavarian Hunting Association (BJV), emphasizes this principle in the new law.
“In the current draft bill, wild animals are given far too little consideration.
The focus is purely on the situation of the forest stands.
However, it is not the forest law that is being amended, but the hunting law. "
"Abolishing the shooting plan is a violation of the Animal Welfare Act"
Tessy Lödermann shares this opinion.
"Abolishing the shooting plan for roe deer and introducing a minimum shooting without a cap is a clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act, because here no consideration is given in any way to the social structures, the age groups and the strong bond between mother goat and fawns," outraged the Vice President of the Bavarian State Association in the German Animal Welfare Association.
"Shooting plans also include the obligation that a healthy game population of all native animal species is maintained in appropriate numbers."
"There are no figures about the actual stock"
According to Bär, nobody knows how many deer, deer and chamois still live in Bavaria.
“At the moment there is no record, no scientifically proven study or statistical survey.” Nevertheless, it is repeatedly “preached” that there is too much game and that the forest is therefore on the verge of extinction.
But such one-sided arguments don't work in his eyes.
"After all, it was the human being who changed the naturally mixed forest structure in favor of economic profits," says Bär.
“And now do deer, stag and chamois pay with their lives for this development?
In order to rectify this imbalance in the forest, it is not enough to just call for higher numbers of kills.
What is necessary is a sophisticated, long-term concept of silvicultural measures and hunting methods based on wildlife biology.
Hunting can support forest conversion, but it can only ever be one of many building blocks. "
The conversion to climate-stable forests is also a concern of the hunters.
“But poplars, birches and willows also form roots, hold the soil together, bind CO2, drop leaves and thus ensure that humus builds up on the soil.
These tree species are very robust, do not need to be planted and occur in a natural mix, ”emphasizes Bär.
There are also many other lignified structural elements that make up a natural, climate-stable forest.
“But they don't yield any income.
The recurring demands for higher numbers of fires have only economic interests and not, as is constantly repeated, concern for the forest as an ecosystem.
It's all about bringing up economically usable tree species without any effort. "
In the opinion of the BJV chairman, ecological thinking looks different.
"It is shameful how little the so-called forest rescuers look at the condition of the wild animals, how little wildlife biology expertise flows into their demands for ever higher numbers of kills and how one-sidedly the local game is made responsible for everything." Both the hunting association and the animal welfare association are now fighting for a change to the draft, which is currently in the state and association hearing and is to be presented to the federal cabinet this September.
Michaela Sperer