Brandenburg's wolves: Now the quota hunt is looming - a heated topic!

Brandenburg's wolves: Now the quota hunt is looming - a heated topic!

On August 14, 2025, Brandenburg is planning a controversial quota hunt for wolves. The State Secretary for the Environment Gregor Beyer (non-party) has put forward proposals aimed at including wolves in hunting law. The proposed killing rate initially calls for a 15% reduction in the wolf population, which could later rise to 35%, meaning up to 330 wolves per year. At least 1,000 wolves currently live in Brandenburg, which means that the state has the highest number of wolf packs in Germany - 58 packs in the monitoring year 2023/24, followed by Lower Saxony with 48 and Saxony with 37 packs.

To make the presence of the large predators clear, warning signs were put up in Brandenburg. Hunter Heike van Reekum supports the scheduled shooting of wolves, while the Brandenburg State Hunting Association, represented by Kai Hamman, also calls for a reduction in the population. Under the new guidelines, wolves that cause problems and are close to villages and pastures have been identified as candidates for shooting.

Environmental organizations and hunters in conflict

However, the plans are encountering resistance from conservationists, particularly the Nature Conservation Association (Nabu). They criticize the shooting because it could endanger the social structure of the wolf packs. The conservationists' argument is that wolves play a valuable role in the ecosystem by regulating the overpopulation of deer and wild boar, thereby contributing to the health of forests.

Another suggestion comes from Karsten Arnold, who suggests that hunters should wear body cameras to document the need for shooting. The Secretary of State for the Environment also plans to leave savage grazers lying around for 48 hours while they are guarded by hunters, in what conservationists call “carcass hunting.”

Future discussions and legal changes

The first Brandenburg Wolf Plenum in six years will take place in Potsdam in September. Participants include hunting and nature conservation associations, sheep breeders, farmers and wolf experts. In order to implement the discussed changes in hunting legislation and the wolf ordinance, resolutions from the state parliament are required. In view of these developments, it remains to be seen how the wolf population in Brandenburg and public opinion will develop.

This article is based on information from rbb24 and is characterized by additional historical perspectives and developments Wikipedia supplemented.