German minister urges easier killings as lawmakers weigh wolves

German Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer is in favour of making it easier for wolves to be shot, as the number of packs is rising in the country.

Lawmakers are set to debate proposals on how to deal with the growing wolf population in Germany later on Wednesday, with the ruling coalition in favour of allowing the animals to be shot after breaking through fences or killing sheep, for example.

The proposition, widely backed by farmers, has been met with opposition by animal rights activists.

“We now have over 200 wolf packs in Germany,” Rainer told public broadcaster ARD on Wednesday morning.

“In terms of area, we have more wolves than they have in Russia,” he said, adding that intervention was needed.

The minister noted that wolf attacks did not only cause economic damage but put an emotional burden on farmers too.

Rainer said funds would still be made available for protective measures including fences and guardian dogs. “We have no intention whatsoever of exterminating the wolf,” he stressed.

Wolves are protected in Germany, but the country’s wolf population has been increasing in recent years at least in some parts of the country, officials said in a report to the European Union in July.

Conservation group NABU argued that making it easier to kill wolves did not help to protect farm animals, instead advocating for better protection of livestock.

“Science and practice show that regular hunting of wolves neither significantly reduces livestock kills nor does it ease the pressure on grazing livestock owners,” NABU’s Marie Neuwald told dpa.