Germany: Rally for Wolves in Berlin
Protest against the threatened inclusion in hunting law: Wolves are strictly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act. According to the coalition agreement between CDU/CSU and SPD, the federal government will work with the states to develop a “suitable catalogue of criteria and measures for the removal” of the animals – however, “removal” means nothing other than killing.
Protest against the threatened inclusion in hunting law: Wolves are protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act are strictly protected. According to the coalition agreement between CDU/CSU and SPD, the federal government will work with the states to develop a «suitable catalogue of criteria and measures for the removal» of the animals – «removal», however, means nothing other than killing.
Kowtowing to the hunting and agricultural lobby
The citizens’ initiative Aktion Fair Play, together with the volunteer PETA-ZWEI street team and other animal welfare associations and organisations, is therefore protesting this coming Saturday, 5 May 2018, from 2:00 p.m. outside the Bundestag in Berlin against the planned wolf-culling clause, which is intended to weaken the strict protection of the animals. Animal welfare supporters see the coalition agreement as a kowtow to the hunting and agricultural lobby and are calling for peaceful coexistence with wolves.
«Recreational hunters and farmers are deliberately stoking fears and stirring up sentiment against wolves. These shy and highly social animals are an indispensable part of a healthy ecosystem and contribute to the regulation and health of wildlife populations,» said Peter Höffken, policy advisor at PETA.
Norwegian scientists examined the threat potential of the animals and concluded that healthy wolves generally pose no danger to humans. The Lusatia wolf territory (Brandenburg/Saxony) has been home to Germany’s largest wolf population for around 15 years; not a single case of dangerous behaviour by the animals towards humans is known from this area.
Media witch-hunt against the wolf
Instead of doing valuable educational work, farmers and recreational hunters are stoking fears. The result: a veritable media witch hunt against the wolf, aimed at stripping it of its status as a strictly protected species and having it included in hunting law as game. On the one hand, recreational hunters justify the alleged necessity of recreational hunting by claiming that native wildlife lacks natural predators and must therefore be hunted. On the other hand, recreational hunters want to decimate the wolf population in order to continue legitimizing the killing of millions of animals and to eliminate their competition for prey. Recreational hunting as population control has demonstrably failed.
After recreational hunters drove these fascinating animals to extinction for the first time, it took over 100 years before wolves resettled in Germany. By 1850, the last traces of wolf packs had disappeared; in 1904, the last remaining wolf in Saxony was shot. Since 2000, the wolf has been living in Germany again, not least due to the strict protective measures in place since 1990. Today, dozens of wolf packs live here, with more appearing every year.
«We hope that humans have learned from the past and that wolves will not be persecuted and exterminated in Germany a second time,» says Peter Höffken.
A wolf pack is like a family
PETA is fundamentally opposed to recreational hunting. A wolf pack consists of around eight animals and resembles a human family: the parents typically stay together for life; within their territory they only accept their own offspring, who seek out their own territories upon reaching adulthood. To keep curious animals at a distance if one is spotted, loud clapping and calling is recommended. To prevent the animals from becoming accustomed to humans and losing their natural wariness, they should under no circumstances be fed.
Dossier: The wolf in Switzerland: facts, politics, and the limits of hunting
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In our dossiers on the criticism of recreational hunting gather fact-checks, analyses and background reports. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
