Over the past two years, I've essayed a few pieces on the return of wolves to the German environment. In the beginning, if you watched German public TV....the documentary pieces were designed in some ways to approach the story on the level of the 'good wolf'. It reminded of the effort back from twelve years ago, when Bruno the bear arrived in Germany (the first in a hundred years to be noted in the wilds of Germany), and how Bruno was portrayed in the early days as the 'good bear'.
As time went by, the 'good wolf' slant has kinda failed. Farmers and livestock owners are complaining, and they want a national policy on wolves. The pro-wolf lobby (mostly environmentalists) don't want any hunting situations allowed.
So there's a draft bill being circuited around....the CDU needs the support of the SPD, to pass it. It would basically allow 'some' hunting of wolves to occur.
But tangled up into this mess is that fact the wolf is still seen as a 'strictly protected species'.
Right now, the suggested rule would say that if a wolf attack occurs, then the shooting and killing of the wolf would be allowed. The idea of an entire pack of wolves being killed off? Well....in various scenarios, yes....that could happen. But the rule says that every 'hunt' in this case....has to be approved by state officials. So you might have x-case be approved in the Pfalz, but the same identical case occurring in Hessen would be disapproved for a hunt.
The government paying off farmers for lost livestock? It's apparently going to be part of the draft.
But added to the conflicts....the Agricultural Minister (CDU Party, Klöckner) said she wants one additional step.....'wolf-free zones'. So far, that's been blocked. Chief reason? In a humorous way, the EU has a protection rule that hinders such a zone being created. Even if you had two packs of wolves noted in some rural community with a school surrounded by woods....no, you can't proclaim that area of the school as a 'wolf-free zone'....even if four kids were attacked or dragged off into the woods by the wolves. In this scenario, you'd just end up with some hunter on full-time duty to guard against wolves (not gun-carrying nutcases like you see in the US).
So you have to wonder....just how many wolves exist in Germany, and that brings up another debate. The hunters and their associations say it's up to around 1,000 total. The environmentalists and the government say it's near 400 total. Who is right? Unknown. Most of the wolf reports, if you pay attention to the news media.....suggest that it's mostly in the northern region of Germany, and has yet to really settle into Bavaria.
On quantity of pups produced by a female? I looked it up....it's typically four to six produced....yearly. So one single wolf female over a six-year period.....might produce 36 pups. Just doing the simple math and assuming that hunters aren't quietly hunting them.....it's probably closer to the 1,000 number mentioned, than the 400 number.
A continuing problem? All of this is now tightly bound into political stances by various groups. I hate to suggest that it's a top one-hundred problem....but if you were around farmers or live-stock enthusiasts, it's probably a top twenty-issue.
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