Germany’s Farmers’ Association is calling for stronger wolf hunting measures, citing the loss of livestock to wolf attacks. “We have thousands of wolf bites on livestock every year” said the association’s president, Joachim Rukwied, in an interview. “Those who want to preserve livestock farming must regulate the wolf population downwards.”
The association is advocating for a wolf population management model similar to that of Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden, where the annual wolf cull is capped at a specific number. In Sweden, the wolf population is currently limited to 170 individuals, down from a previous cap of 300. In contrast, Germany does not have a similar cap in place.
The European Parliament recently adjusted the legal framework to allow for a more forceful approach to dealing with wolves, downgrading the protected status of the species from “strictly protected” to “protected.” This change would make it easier to conduct a nationwide wolf hunt in Germany, where some individual states have already integrated the wolf into their local hunting laws, enabling population management. For example, Saxony and Lower Saxony, where the majority of wolf packs are found, have already done so.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Environment’s Wolf Documentation and Advisory Center, a total of 274 wolf territories were known in the 2023/24 monitoring year. The center reported 209 wolf packs, 46 pairs, and 19 solitary individuals, with a pack typically consisting of five to ten animals. Wolf sightings have been reported in all German states.