The Kassel administrative court has temporarily stopped the authorization to shoot two wolves in the Hesse-Bavarian border area. Bavaria had also suspended the approval for the time being.
The Kassel Administrative Court has suspended an exceptional permit to shoot two wolves in Hesse – for the time being. The court announced this on Friday afternoon. It responded to urgent requests from two environmental associations against the shooting of wolves.
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Audio 00:40 Min. | 03.11.23 |Kathinka Mumme
Kassel Administrative Court temporarily stops shooting wolves in the Rhön
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According to the court, these resolutions mean that no use of the shooting permit issued may be made until a decision has been made on the urgent applications.
The Würzburg Administrative Court in Bavaria had already temporarily stopped the exemption to shoot the two wolves on Thursday. The male and female live in the Hessian-Bavarian border area in the Rhön.
Nature Conservation Initiative is one of the plaintiffs
According to its own information, one of the plaintiffs against the shooting is the Nature Conservation Initiative eV according to a statement also submitted an urgent application to the Kassel Administrative Court on Thursday.
“The wolf is also part of biodiversity and must be protected,” says the initiative. Shooting the wolves is not compatible with the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the European Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive.
Wolf protection association announced criminal charges
The Wolfsschutz Deutschland eV association announced in a statement on Friday morning that it would file a criminal complaint in the event of a wolf being shot.
Shooting is neither justifiable under nature conservation law nor legally permissible, since “this killing can wipe out entire wolf families.” The association described the herd protection measures taken so far as inadequate.
26 farm animals killed in Hesse
In Hesse, according to the Ministry of the Environment, the two wolves had overcome protective fences installed in the community of Ehrenberg (Fulda) and killed 16 sheep.
As the Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG) announced on Friday, one of the affected animals is said to have attacked two sheep in Flörsbachtal and Sinntal (Main-Kinzig) in September. According to the HLNUG, the protective measures taken were not sufficient here. In both cases, the she-wolf’s DNA was secured.
According to HLNUG, a total of 26 farm animals such as sheep, goats and fallow deer are said to have been injured or killed by the two wolves in Hesse.
Firing was initially permitted on the Bavarian side
In mid-October, the government of Lower Franconia approved the shooting of the two wolves in the Rhön through an exception. Two weeks later, the Kassel regional council from the Hesse side also followed suit with such an “exemption permit for the removal of wolves”.
Wolves are protected in Germany and are normally not allowed to be shot. However, the special permit allowed this to happen for a limited time until November 9th in a limited area for the two wolves on the Hesse-Bavarian border because they had previously repeatedly killed sheep there.
There was also criticism of the decision from other Hessian environmental associations. For example, the Hessian regional association of the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) demanded that owners of grazing animals be made more responsible for properly protecting their sheep.
VG Würzburg: No decision yet on legality
The Würzburg Administrative Court emphasized that the decision was not yet a statement as to whether the Lower Franconia government’s exemption was legal.
The temporary stop was necessary to prevent the wolves from being shot at short notice before a decision on the urgent applications was made, it was said.
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