Germany: Hunting dogs kill 15 sheep
Wildtierschutz Deutschland files charges against hunt leader and dog handler.
Hunting dogs kill 15 sheep in Kirchwald
When Petra and Günther T. set out on a peaceful Saturday morning on 3 December 2022 for a walk with their dogs across the meadows towards the forest in Kirchwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, they had no inkling of the calamity that the mild winter's day would bring.
When two hunting dogs of the German Wirehaired Pointer breed came charging towards them on a path and then ran into a meadow, their first thought was for a neighbour's sheep. But it was too late. By the end of the day, according to the sheep keeper, 15 animals had died or had to be put down.
Wildtierschutz Deutschland interviewed the witnesses and filed criminal charges with the Koblenz public prosecutor's office against the hunt leader and dog handler.
Long-legged dogs unsuitable for driven hunts
«We accuse the hunt leader and his dog handler of having violated the recognised principles of German hunting ethics by deploying dogs that are not fit for purpose,» explains Lovis Kauertz of Wildtierschutz Deutschland. «This is a clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act.»
In recent years, long-legged dog breeds that are actually unsuitable for this type of hunting have repeatedly caused problems during driven hunts. The deployment of these dogs repeatedly leads to incidents that are not in compliance with animal welfare standards. More on the topic of crime and hunting as well as animal welfare issues.
A postscript: Imagine if a wolf had caused this massacre.
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More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier The Role and Criticism of Recreational Hunters we shed light on the training, power and self-image of recreational hunters. 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.
