Thousands of farm animals fall victim to wolves in Germany every year – many of them in Lower Saxony, a few in Bremen. But even in the smallest federal state there are increasing efforts to protect grazing animals from attacks.
Bremen – The state of Bremen wants to invest significantly more money in protective fences against attacks by wolves. In the past few months, the funding amount has doubled to 100,000 euros, the environmental department said. The budget should be increased further this year. The money for this comes from remaining funds released from other projects, so no final decision has been made yet.
The environmental authority justifies the investment with the increasing interest in livestock protection fences. While only one legitimate application was received in Bremen from 2019 to 2022, there were four applications this year, said a spokeswoman for the Environment Senator.
According to the Senate, twelve animals have been proven to have been killed or injured by a wolf in the state of Bremen since 2018. In Lower Saxony, according to the state hunters’ association, 348 animals (as of October) have been fatally injured after wolf attacks in the 2023/2024 monitoring year or had to be euthanized afterwards.
“There must be more focus on preventing wolf attacks, also in order to protect the wolf,” said Bremen’s Environment State Councilor Irene Strebl (Greens) during a recent visit to a farm. The country welcomes the initiative by Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) to make it easier to shoot wolves in the vicinity of cracks for a short period of time. Lower Saxony has also already announced that it wants to implement the proposal for a wolf agreement quickly – if possible as early as 2024.
In Germany, the federal states are responsible for wolf management, but the wolf is strictly protected by international and national laws and has the highest possible protection status. dpa
2023-10-20 03:38:41
#money #protective #fences #wolves
