Wolf can be shot down because authorities say he endangers people - conservationists are considering lawsuits

Created: 01/14/2022, 18:21

By: Dirk Walter, Cornelia Schramm, Heidi Geyer

In December the wolf ran through the streets of Bergen - now he is to be shot.

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The government of Upper Bavaria has approved the shooting of a wolf - for the first time in over 100 years.

Environmentalists are surprised by the news.

The farmers in Traunstein breathe a sigh of relief.

Munich/Traunstein

– environmentalists are surprised: the government of Upper Bavaria has approved the shooting of a wolf in the Chiemgau. A spokesman said on Friday. The animal originally from Italy with the genetic code GW2425m should be "taken", as the official language says. Among other things, the wolf killed five sheep in Bergen (Traunstein district) and attacked goats in the same place in December. A video showed him walking the streets.

The question now is who is allowed to shoot the wolf and how to identify it in the face of ongoing wolf passages in the region. A general decree, which the government will probably issue on Monday, should contain more information on the shooting procedure. It will also state "which persons authorized to hunt may carry out the shooting," said the government spokesman, Wolfgang Rupp.

The agricultural expert of the state parliament Greens, Gisela Sengl, thinks that is wrong.

"The wolf is long gone," she suspects.

In any case, extermination cannot be the goal, only coexistence.

"It is unrealistic to say that we will be free of wolves again." Spokesman Rupp referred to an "expert commission" at the Bavarian State Office for the Environment.

She found that the animal had repeatedly stayed in the immediate vicinity of inhabited houses.

The shooting should avoid endangering people.

The composition of the commission is a matter of secret - "experts from agriculture and nature conservation," says Rupp.

"We don't name names" - also to protect against hostilities.

Bund Naturschutz wants to examine the situation - farmers breathe a sigh of relief

The Bund Naturschutz wants to take a close look at the permit. "We will look at the decision and probably sue," said the wolf expert of the BN, Uwe Friedel. “We are technically very surprised.” The justification that a risk situation for humans cannot be ruled out “is currently incomprehensible to us”. Friedel went on to say: "There were never any reports that he threatened or even attacked people." A threat to grazing animals alone is not sufficient as a reason. But Friedel also added: If there really is “a threat to humans, shooting down would have to be considered in any case.”

However, an affected farmer welcomes the decision: "That's good news!" Three pregnant goats had lost their young as a result of the wolf attack.

It is to be expected that the wolf will come back.

"I still don't feel good about it when I think about the fact that there was a wolf in front of the front door." Because: "A large part of our pastures cannot be fenced in." She no longer wants to read her name in the newspaper - because after the first one She received many unpleasant letters from reports about the wolf attack on her farm.