Federal Government under pressure: Refurbish wolf protection and manage!

Federal Government under pressure: Refurbish wolf protection and manage!

Berlin, Deutschland - On July 7, 2025, the federal states of Berlin, Bavaria, Hesse and Saxony wrote a joint letter to the federal government on the subject of wolf. The federal states demand that the federal government reports a favorable state of preservation of the wolf in Germany to the EU as part of the FFH reporting. Berlin's senator Ute Bonde emphasizes the positive role of the wolf for species -rich and functioning ecosystems and is committed to responsible inventory management.

Bayern's Environment Minister Thorsten Glauber explains that the determination of the favorable state of preservation of the wolf is both professionally and politically necessary. This enables regional inventory management. In this context, he also calls for the wolf's legally secure hunting at state and federal level to support the pasture holders.

demands of the countries

Hesse's Minister Ingmar Jung pleads for the political recognition of the favorable state of preservation of the wolf and calls for the implementation of the inventory management anchored in the coalition agreement. Saxony's Environment Minister Georg-Ludwig von Breitenbuch also calls for quick answers from Berlin to hunting law and inventory management. A majority of the countries consider the favorable state of preservation of the wolf in most parts of Germany, especially with over 100 reproductive packs and couples.

In the past 20 years, wolf population has increased continuously in Germany. In view of these developments, the federal states require a revision of the outdated evaluation standards to assess the state of preservation of the wolf. The favorable state of conservation is necessary to enable effective inventory management and lower the protection status of the wolf. On March 7, this protection status was reduced as part of the Bern Convention and legally determined by the EU Commission in a change in the FFH directive, which must now be transferred to national law by the federal government.

Current political situation

On the occasion of the "Day of the Wolf" on April 30, the German Farmers' Association, the German Hunting Association and the German District Council are calling for the Federal Government for a turn in wolf policy. They appeal to the political managers to use the existing scope for regulating the wolf. The Secretary General of the German Farmers' Association, Bernhard Krüsken, calls for the FFH directive to change the EU Commission's proposal and national implementation. He emphasizes that the wolf is no longer considered endangered, but is a major problem and an immediate program is required to change nature conservation and hunting rights.

Helmut Dammann-Tamke, President of the German Hunting Association, emphasizes that the wolf's admission to the hunting law is overdue in order to enable a regionally adapted inventory management. Together with other association representatives, he calls for a legally secured and rapid removal of harmful wolves and the consent to downgrade the protection status at the EU level. In addition, Dr. Kay Ruge, deputy general manager of the German Landkreitag, a look at the wolf situation and to concrete solutions for rural areas.

In addition to these demands, data show that the livestock cracks due to wolf attacks from under 200 animals in 2012 to almost 4,000 in 2020 were almost reduced. This illustrates the need for action and the urgency of an active wolf management, as the German Hunting Association demands. A consensus between wolf protection, human security and preservation of biodiversity is essential. Positive signals for the review of protection status come from both the EU Parliament as well as the EU Commission and the Conference of Agriculture.

The resistance to the strict wolf policy of Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke is stirring in several federal states. This is currently blocking the "regionally differentiated inventory management" agreed in the coalition agreement. At the Agricultural Ministers' Conference in spring 2023, a re-evaluation of the EU strategy for the wolf and a review of its protection status was required. Central demands of the DJV to deal with the wolf include a regionally differentiated, active inventory management, the inclusion in the catalog of the hunting species of the Federal Hunting Act as well as clearly regulated provisions for dealing with serious injuries to wolves.

summarized it is shown that there is an urgent need for action in Germany to ensure responsible use of the growing wolf population and to take into account the concerns of the pasture holders and the rural population. The discussion about the wolf remains a current and complex topic.