She-wolf mates with dog – puppies in Bavaria have to be shot
Created: 12/22/2022, 4:30 p.m
By: Tanja Kipke
Apparently, wolfhound puppies live in Lower Franconia.
The law requires these hybrids to be shot down - to protect the wolf population.
Wolves are sighted in Bavaria again and again.
Now stray apparently
Wolfhound puppies through Lower Franconia.
When examining three dead sheep in the Rhön-Grabfeld district in Lower Franconia, the authorities found gene traces of a local wolf and her young on the carcasses, reports merkur.de.
According to the findings, the puppies are wolf dogs because the wolf mated with a domestic dog from Thuringia in spring 2022, the State Office for the Environment (LfU) in Augsburg announced on Thursday.
In August, the five boys fell into a Thuringian photo trap.
The wolfhound offspring - so-called hybrids - must be shot according to the Federal Nature Conservation Act.
Wolfhound puppies must die: captivity excluded from the age of 3 months
When a wolf mates with a dog, wolfhound pups are born.
According to the law, these must be "taken away".
© Oliver Dietze/dpa/archive image
The mixing of dogs and wolves leads to genetic changes, said an LfU spokesman.
This could lead to a deterioration in the gene pool.
The wolf is optimally adapted to an independent life in the great outdoors, while the dog is not.
The wolf species can only survive in the long term if it does not lose its ability to adapt to the natural environment.
The LfU will now take steps for the removal.
These may only be carried out by persons commissioned by the LfU.
According to the LfU, a removal procedure had already been initiated in Thuringia in the summer.
A removal can basically mean catch or shooting.
"However, for animals that are older than three months, as in the present case, the lethal removal, i.e. the shooting, is planned," the Thuringian Ministry for the Environment explains the procedure in more detail.
Animals born in the wild would not be able to adapt to permanent confinement in an enclosure and would therefore suffer unnecessarily in captivity.
A few weeks ago, a taxi driver on federal highway 307 in Upper Bavaria saw a larger animal on the foggy road between Aurach and Neuhaus.
A wolf, the man is convinced.
Eyes down: Wildlife tracks are everywhere
View photo gallery
Torn goat in Lower Franconia was the victim of a dog
In the case of a goat that was also killed in the Rhön-Grabfeld district, a wolf and a wolfhound were ruled out as attackers, the LfU said.
According to a DNA analysis, the animal was clearly killed by a dog.
Ursula von der Leyen's favorite pony was also killed by a wolf.
The authority advises dog owners to leash their animals near pastures and livestock owners in wolf areas to secure their herds.
Subsidies can be applied for at the respective agricultural offices.