The Wolf (Canis lupus), a once dominant mammal, is one of the wild animals that has virtually disappeared from the earth’s surface due to their systematic extinction. This was especially the case in North America and Western Europe, where we were even close to extinction during the 1960s, the magazine recalls. GEO. Of the 170,000 wolves currently living freely in the world, most are found in Russia, Canada and Alaska; in Europe, where they enjoy protected species status, the population, currently estimated at 15,000 individuals, is slowly recovering. Those currently occupying the Central European plain, of which Germany is a part, are descended from wolves from Poland, who gradually migrated west. It was in the year 2000 that the first youth scouts were born in the country since the mid-19th century. According to figures from the German Nature Conservation Association (NABU), in November 2021 there were 157 flocks (pairs with offspring, with an average of 8 individuals), 27 pairs without young and 19 isolated individuals on German territory.
With 26 additional packages compared to 2020, the population is certainly increasing, but its future is not yet fully secured. For a population to have a 95% chance of surviving, you need 1,000 adult animals. From this point of view, NABU is hopeful, for the wolves reproduce well and the game abounds in the German forests. But the animals, even though they are protected by law, are the target of breeders who accuse them of attacking their herds. The situation varies according to the states, it is at the local level that it is most often necessary to act. NABU focuses on prevention, while some state governments support slaughter. The debate has particularly raged this winter in Bavaria and Lower Saxony. On April 30, 2022, on the occasion of “Wolf’s Day”, the associations of farmers and breeders again demonstrated to request permission to kill the wolves suspected of having committed attacks on the grazing animals. The total number of such attacks was 4,000 in 2020.
German farmers want to kill wolves
The Wolf (Canis lupus), a once dominant mammal, is one of the wild animals that has virtually disappeared from the earth’s surface due to their systematic extinction. This was especially the case in North America and Western Europe, where we were even close to extinction during the 1960s, the magazine recalls. GEO. Of the 170,000 wolves currently living freely in the world, most are found in Russia, Canada and Alaska; in Europe, where they enjoy protected species status, the population, currently estimated at 15,000 individuals, is slowly recovering. Those currently occupying the Central European plain, of which Germany is a part, are descended from wolves from Poland, who gradually migrated west. It was in the year 2000 that the first youth scouts were born in the country since the mid-19th century. According to figures from the German Nature Conservation Association (NABU), in November 2021 there were 157 flocks (pairs with offspring, with an average of 8 individuals), 27 pairs without young and 19 isolated individuals on German territory.
With 26 additional packages compared to 2020, the population is certainly increasing, but its future is not yet fully secured. For a population to have a 95% chance of surviving, you need 1,000 adult animals. From this point of view, NABU is hopeful, for the wolves reproduce well and the game abounds in the German forests. But the animals, even though they are protected by law, are the target of breeders who accuse them of attacking their herds. The situation varies according to the states, it is at the local level that it is most often necessary to act. NABU focuses on prevention, while some state governments support slaughter. The debate has particularly raged this winter in Bavaria and Lower Saxony. On April 30, 2022, on the occasion of “Wolf’s Day”, the associations of farmers and breeders again demonstrated to request permission to kill the wolves suspected of having committed attacks on the grazing animals. The total number of such attacks was 4,000 in 2020.
Should the number of wolves be limited?
For the chairman of the Association of German Farmers (DBV), Joachim Rukwied, there are already too many wolves. He therefore asks for oneactive crew management“and setting a maximum number of individuals and packages.”The surplus must be taken, otherwise it will be the end of pastoralism“, he predicts. This speech resonated with the government of Lower Saxony, whose Minister for the Environment, Olaf Lies (SPD), commissioned an expertise aimed at clarifying the number of animals needed to preserve the species before establishing a The country even plans to include the wolf in hunting legislation, which is provoking anger among nature and animal protection associations. about Mirror. At the request of the ecologists, the High Court nevertheless ruled on the duty to provide information regarding the permits to slaughter wolves, which until then had been kept secret. For the three associations which have lodged a complaint against the Government of Lower Saxony, requesting it to respect the status of protected species applicable to the wolf, slaughter practices have already proved its ineffectiveness because the consumption of wild-bred animals is inevitable. In return, they recommend that farmers instead invest in the protection of their herds, to prevent attack.
Are wolves a danger to humans?
The same controversy arose recently in Upper Bavaria, where a young male named GW2425m repeatedly attacked domestic animals during the month of December 2021. The government of the country exceptionally approved his slaughter because he represented a potential danger to the inhabitants: during his last appearance he had in fact been in the presence of the farmer from whom he was trying to seize a goat. But the wolf fled, no one has seen him since, he has not made any more intrusions. That daily newspaper asks a NABU expert to find out the extent to which the country’s decision is justified. For the association, which had the permit to kill revoked, this young wolf poses no danger to humans because he has shown no sign that he would be interested in him as a prey. “For the past 20 years, no human has been killed by a wolf in Europe“, the expert reminds. It is also absurd to give hunters permission to kill a particular wolf because they would be quite unable to recognize it; wolves are very similar to each other, it is not possible, like losers, to identify them by their fur.In the Bavarian territory, the population is also not very numerous, as there are only 13 wolves: two flocks, two pairs and an isolated individual.Assurdity in human decisions, comments on his side. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : While people in Bavaria were still wondering if the wolf GW2425m should be shot, it was already dead 360 km further east, in the Czech Republic. The young wolf, who had covered 600 km in a few weeks, came from Austria. Probably looking for a partner and a territory, he was run over by a vehicle on January 17, 2022.
Deter the wolf by building effective fences
To prevent the wolf from attacking, you must protect your animals well, advises biologist Holger Buschmann, also chairman of the NABU in Lower Saxony. Asked by daily newspaper, he describes exactly how to counter the wolf’s predation strategy. It is not only necessary to deter him, but also to exploit his weaknesses. Make it difficult for him to find grazing animals, so he prefers to hunt a wild animal, by installing a fixed or mobile fence that is well sealed because wolves “are very smart“and”find the slightest mistake. so it will not be able to pass over a 1.20 meter high fence, which will also block another dangerous predator: the wild boar, but will not pose a problematic obstacle for deer, hares or hedgehogs that get through very easily.
Politically motivated, the decisions taken by the state of Lower Saxony do not provide a sufficient answer to what is an emotional overflow, the biologist adds. Because the latest attacks from wolves “made the cup run over“sheep farmers, who are also facing falling prices. Since the country only partially reimburses the necessary expenses for setting up fences, it should therefore rather increase its financial support to farmers. It is in fact remarkable that the observed attacks took place only where the fences did not comply with the regulations, either because they were too low or because the power did not go.
The expert acknowledges that the result of the wolf’s passage is a sight that is difficult to maintain; moreover, he often kills a large number of animals to get food for several days as he plans to return, as his stomach can digest the spoiled meat. But since it is not possible to eradicate the species again, it is necessary to be able to divert the wolf towards other prey, wild, currently overpopulated: deer, which would also have the advantage of increasing biodiversity. In any case, this is what happened successfully in EUSA, where the expansion of wolves has helped regulate the population of white-tailed deer in Yellowstone National Park.