Last updated: 02.12.2023, 09:00 a.m.
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Controversial: the beaver in the Aubach valley near Seefeld (symbolic image). © IMAGO/imageBROKER/Marcus Siebert
The Bund Naturschutz considers the removal, i.e. the shooting, of beavers in the Aubachtal area to be pointless. Conspecifics would quickly reoccupy the area, the representatives argue.
Seefeld – Should beavers be taken in the area of the Aubach valley? "Extraction" can result in both capture and shooting – and this is what some, especially farmers, are calling for. The Bund Naturschutz Seefeld has now spoken out strictly against a shoot-down.
"I am shocked by the hatred that is being stirred up against the beaver in Seefeld," said local group chairwoman Constanze Gentz in a statement. A statement at the Meilingen citizens' meeting that the beaver had been released in the Pilsensee was not correct. The beaver had been extinct in Germany for a long time. The renaturalization in Bavaria took place from 1966 to 1982. Because where the beaver builds and shapes the landscape, biodiversity explodes and thus works against the massive extinction of species. In addition, the beaver provides water drainage measures free of charge, makes the soils more absorbent again and ensures the rewetting of peatland soils in Seefeld, which have been massive climate killers due to the high CO2 outgassing since land consolidation and urbanization. According to Gentz, the beaver also contributes to climate protection.
Read Also: Beaver makes enemies in the Aubach valley
In addition, the area in which the farmer is demanding the shooting is a European Natura 2000 protected area (FFH area), Gentz stressed. It is not without reason that the European beaver has been included in the list of European protected species (FFH annex species) and rightly enjoys this protection, "so it is precisely there that shooting is not possible from a legal point of view". If you take a beaver family, the territory is immediately occupied by a new beaver. So there is no point in killing it at all.
The food chain is long, at the very end of which is humans, who are dependent on functioning ecosystems. Every farmer should be aware of this.
Constanze Gentz, Chairwoman of the Seefeld Nature Conservation Association
According to the Bund Naturschutz, drainage in the dams can lead to "the longed-for relaxation", and areas should generally remain cultivable. Otherwise, farmers can apply for state compensation. When installing drainage, however, it should be ensured that the water levels remain as high as required by the FFH management plan and that the moor soils in the lower Aubachmoos in particular remain waterlogged. As reported, such drains are in the works.
According to Gentz, 70 percent more insects can be found in beaver territories, amphibians are finding habitats again, and birds and bats are finding food. "The food chain is long, and at the very end there are humans, who are dependent on functioning ecosystems. Every farmer should be aware of this," Gentz explained.