Grazing and wolves?

MP says: "Coexistence not possible"

Created: 05/10/2022 14:03

Flaming appeal: With warning fires, alpine farmers in the district (in the picture Gmund) have pointed out their concern not to allow the reintroduction of the wolf.

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Wolves and alpine farming do not get along.

Alm farmers now wanted to underline this with warning fires in the district, and the Bundestag also debated.

District – The alpine farmers of the region and beyond are concerned about their cattle in the mountains.

And on the alpine pastures, so-called warning fires were recently blazing, with which the farmers protested against the uncontrolled settlement of the wolf.

In Bayrischzell, Gmund, Kreuth and Schliersee, for example.

The fires were part of a nationwide campaign called for by the Association for the Promotion of German Sheep Farming together with associations and the citizens' initiatives of the Action Alliance "Active Wolf Management" (focus: Lower Saxony).

Wolf officer: "One or more sedentary wolves would probably make grazing impossible in many areas."

Brigitta Regauer, district farmer and also wolf representative of the Almwirtschaftsverein Oberbayern, says: "Especially in the district of Miesbach, which is almost exclusively in the Heuland belt, one or more sedentary wolves would probably make grazing impossible in many areas." Cattle farmers, who, for example, are repeatedly brought up to politicians on alpine pasture tours and which can now also be read on large-scale posters: "Come the wolf, go the pasture."

MdB Alexander Radwan: "Coexistence not possible."

Just one day before the action, the wolf was also an issue in the Bundestag – with an application by the Union parliamentary group.

The local CSU MP Alexander Radwan called for effective population management of the wolf “as a local MP” at the lectern.

In his constituency, the farmers have the feeling that "in parts of German politics, the wolf is more important than their farms, than the alpine pastures, than the preservation of small-scale farming".

He got the message from Tyrol: "More than 300 animals were killed, more than 1,500 animals aborted early." Radwan emphasized: "Coexistence is not possible in some regions, you can't dream, you have to look reality in the face."

In the application, the Union parties in the Bundestag are demanding, among other things, wolf-free zones, inclusion of wolves in hunting law, downgrading of the protection status at EU level and simplified compensation procedures for animal owners.

Green politician: "Union can't think of anything else to shoot down."

Zoe Mayer (Greens), among others, contradicted the Union's attitude: "The Union really can't think of anything else to do with the wolf than shoot it down".

The deputy from Karlsruhe said: "Grazing livestock is a big step forward for animal protection" - and also for species and landscape protection.

Meanwhile, the answer to the wolf is not to shoot it, but to protect herd: it would mean learning from neighboring countries.

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The matter was not decided in the Bundestag; at the request of the traffic light parties, further treatment was referred to the environmental (lead) and agriculture (opinion) committees.

Incidentally, the Holzkirchner MP Karl Bär also sits in the latter as chairman for the Greens parliamentary group.

He is a deputy member of the environmental committee.

Radwan is not a member of any of these bodies.

The full debate on September 29 can be viewed in the media library at bundestag.de.