A clear, first sign: Oberammergau has clearly committed to the resolution that the district has drawn up in relation to dealing with wolves.
Oberammergau – The door keeps opening.
Numerous interested parties, including hunters, rangers and foresters, make a pilgrimage to the meeting room of the Ammergau House on Wednesday evening.
"Seldom is there so much going on," commented Mayor Andreas Rödl (CSU) on the audience.
It is clear why the citizens appear: They want to know how the Oberammergau municipal council is positioned in terms of wolves.
In the end, one thing is certain: the otherwise often divided local politicians are pursuing a common line on this sensitive issue.
Among other things, they support the application of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which aims to establish a pasture protection area with easier wolf removal.
As well as the decision of the nature park of March 1st, which also calls for the shooting of the resident predators.
And with only one dissenting vote.
The community is sending a clear signal.
Oberammergau is the first place in the district to vote on the resolution that the district office has drawn up as a template and on which all 22 municipalities are now to decide successively.
To create pressure.
To the Free State, the federal government, the EU.
At least three males and one female currently in the county
"It was knitted with a very hot needle," says Rödl at the beginning.
That's why he has his managing director Christian Ostler read out the statement, which is two DIN A4 pages long.
It begins with the resolution that was passed at the general meeting of the nature park association.
The core message: The goals of the nature park are not compatible with the presence of wolves.
The animals would endanger the sustainable care of the cultural landscape through small-scale organized grazing.
At least three males and one female are now roaming the region.
“They are about to settle down here,” informs Rödl.
The wolf lady is already carrying.
"When they settle down and multiply," predicts the mayor, "it'll be bad." He doesn't want to paint a nightmare scenario on the wall to be convincing.
It is the knowledge gained from numerous discussions with experts.
grown structures
The term “weighing of interests” is used again and again.
This means that the protective status of the wolf is opposed to that of biodiversity, for example.
"We're not just against the wolf," the mayor clarifies.
"There's a technical reason for that." You also don't want to kill the animal aimlessly and haphazardly, you need a management plan that sets out clear guidelines.
But he makes no secret of it: "We have little space for wolves."
Quotes of the evening:
Florian Schwarzfischer (BIO): We already have a negative example where we watched and did nothing.
By the beaver.
[...] You shouldn't wait that long with the wolf."
Andreas Rödl (CSU): If the companies stop, then it will look like the Bavarian Forest.
Then we have a bunch of trees and nothing else.”
Andreas Rödl: “We live in a fragile construct.
If it becomes imbalanced by the wolf, it collapses.”
Marina Kirchmayr (Bunte Liste): "I'm not against it per se, but I would like to take a differentiated look at it."
Klaus Pukall: "The damage in a pack is higher."
Ludwig Utschneider (PWG): "I can support District Administrator Speer.
[...] He is a wedding loader, now a muzzleloader incarnate.”
Simon Fischer (CSU): We should trust the experts and not search on Google."
It is the grown structures of the cultural landscape in the district that lead to this opinion.
The FFH and other protected areas or alpine farming, for example.
"Our nature only looks like this because farmers, etc., manage it that way," says Rödl.
But that is in danger.
In the district, but also specifically in Oberammergau.
The municipal area is located in an area which, for topographical and climatic reasons, can almost exclusively be used as grassland for agriculture.
Pasture use with cattle, sheep and goats plays a central role.
"Due to the difficult terrain and the large area of the pastures, effective protection against wolf attacks is demonstrably not possible in most cases," says the statement.
If cracks occur, as in the past, it is to be feared that the farms will stop working.
And that goes quickly, adds Rödl and speaks of two years.
The unanimous opinion was that it would be the end of the meadow landscapes, plants would also disappear.
pressure from the base
Except for the impact on the forest.
The game avoids the gates if there are cracks there.
What Rödl considers likely: "It's like McDonald's: you go and get something."
If the game does not get its food in the gate, the browsing on the trees increases.
Rödl's clear announcement: "One must therefore notice: It is always five to twelve."
The community sincerely hopes that the state and federal government will take the arguments seriously and draw conclusions from them.
Because with the current wolf management, there is no doubt that many nature conservation goals are being jeopardized, according to the resolution.
A correction is needed before irreversible developments in agriculture and landscape have occurred.
Klaus Pukall signed it immediately.
The removal is currently "unbelievably difficult", he explains to the nature park coordinator.
That's why "we have to push from the grassroots to get opportunities."
Because the presence of wolves "does not work in this district".
Or as Peter Held (non-partisan electoral community) puts it – without earning even a hint of indignation: “The wolf has no business with us.”
You can find more current news from the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen at Merkur.de/Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
