Aiwanger defends hunting act plans

The main aim of his draft, he said, is to include the wolf and golden jackal in the hunting law so that populations can be regulated in a targeted manner.

He described claims that he also wanted strictly protected species such as the lynx or the European hamster to be hunted, in an interview with the Abendzeitung, as “nonsense” and “false reports”.

According to Hubert Aiwanger, the wolf and golden jackal are, under European law, merely “protected” and not “strictly protected”. This, he said, allows for more flexible population control, particularly to protect pasture livestock farming. “We need hunters and not the ideologues,” the minister said.

Less bureaucracy, clear responsibilities

The draft provides for transferring responsibilities for the management of certain animal species from nature conservation authorities to hunting authorities. With this, Aiwanger aims to eliminate duplicate structures and speed up procedures. He is also calling for the “favourable conservation status” of the wolf to be determined nationwide in order to enable legally secure removals.

Nature conservation organisations accuse Aiwanger of weakening species protection. He counters that hunters are the “true species protectors”, while the “self-appointed eco-scene” acts ideologically against hunting. There is also resistance within the coalition: Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) considers the draft constitutionally problematic. Aiwanger suspects party-political obstruction and points to other states such as Brandenburg, which are taking the lead on wolf management.

We cannot wait until every Bavarian municipality has its own wolf pack, otherwise free-range livestock farming, including horses on the pasture, will be dead. – Hubert Aiwanger

Alongside the wolf and golden jackal Aiwanger also wants to intervene to regulate species such as beaver, raccoon, rook or Egyptian goose when they cause damage. The aim is to conserve species, but to reduce their populations where they cause problems.

On the golden jackal, the minister argues for proactive action. Even though it has so far scarcely been sighted in Bavaria, Aiwanger points to its rapid spread in Austria and damage in other regions.

With the reform, Aiwanger wants to implement a pragmatic, practical hunting policy – with less bureaucracy, clear responsibilities and active population regulation. “Leaving everything to itself is not a solution,” said the minister.

How it turned out: the hunting act has been in force since April 2026

Aiwanger prevailed. On 19 March 2026, the Bavarian state parliament passed the amendment to the Bavarian Hunting Act with the votes of the CSU, Free Voters and AfD; the Greens voted against, and the SPD abstained. The changes came into force on 1 April 2026.

Wolf and golden jackal were included in the Bavarian species catalogue of hunting law for the first time, but remain protected all year round. This is therefore a precautionary decision intended to facilitate later removals without the law having to be fundamentally amended again. Both species remain protected under European law; the golden jackal is listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive, which takes precedence over Bavarian state law. A regular kill is thus not possible for either the wolf or the golden jackal. Also new to the catalogue: beaver and otter, both under a year-round closed season. A central element of the amendment is the kill-quota-free hunting of roe deer.

A few days before the state parliament's decision, however, Aiwanger suffered a defeat on another front: in March 2026 the Bavarian Administrative Court provisionally suspended the hunting-law provisions on the removal of otters after Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Bund Naturschutz had filed suit. The main proceedings are still pending.