Protected Otter Released for Hunting
Yet the shooting of otters offers little benefit to fish farmers. When an otter is removed from a territory, it usually does not take long before another otter moves in to occupy the vacated area.
Water marten cleared for shooting
The decision to release the otter for shooting has sparked a heated debate among the public.
In rural districts of the Upper Palatinate, but also in Lower Bavaria, the small water marten may now be killed by recreational hunters.
Environmentalists and nature lovers are outraged by this measure. They argue that the otter is a protected species and that recreational hunting of this animal sets a dangerous precedent.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe is appalled by this news and has announced in the media that it will take legal action against this approach. Sabrina Schulz of Deutsche Umwelthilfe describes the procedure as unlawful. The small otter, she argues, enjoys protection throughout Europe.
A fiasco for species protection
Instead of simply releasing the animal for shooting, fences or so-called diversion ponds could protect the waters. This would prevent the animals from entering lakes and ponds.
«We notice that this issue moves people. Otters belong to Bavaria just like the Alpine panorama and lederhosen. They are strictly protected — Markus Söder apparently missed the shot,» says Moritz Klose, wildlife expert at WWF Germany.
Applicable species protection law disregarded
Klose says: «With a blanket authorisation for the arbitrary removal of otters, the Bavarian state government is now putting this success at risk. It is also the first time that a state government has so openly overridden applicable species protection law.»
Link to the urgent appeal: Save the Bavarian otters! | WWF
RECREATIONAL HUNTER RADAR
On the trail of hidden animal welfare offenses, poaching and/or criminal activity? Report suspected cases to us! Help with the great recreational hunter radar.
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. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
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.
