Wildlife protection association rejects the shooting of wolves

The German Wildlife Protection Association sees no need to shoot wolves. "Anyone calling for any kind of "active population management" does not understand the way wolves live and is ignoring the legal basis for this," explained Lovis Kauertz, head of the association.

According to the association, the number of wolves in Saxony recently fell by 6.2 percent to 302 animals. There was the same trend in the number of kills: "While 275 attacks were reported in 2023, there were only 210 in 2024."

Association: Hunting cannot replace herd protection

Association head Kauertz said: "Even after the downgrading of protection in the Bern Convention, the wolf will not be an object of regular hunting at least as long as the national favorable conservation status is not guaranteed. We are a long way from this in Germany." Only through good herd protection is it possible for wolves and grazing animals to live together.

"Hunting cannot replace herd protection, on the contrary: herd protection works where there are stable, undisturbed wolf packs that have learned that fences hurt. These wolves pass on their experience to their offspring and keep foreign wolves at a distance," emphasized the expert.

In federal states with many wolves, the population is growing more slowly

In the three federal states with the most wolves, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony, the population of wolves is only growing slowly overall, the association claimed. The number of attacks is declining significantly. This is mainly due to herd protection.

According to current monitoring, 209 wolf packs live in Germany, most of them in Brandenburg (58), Lower Saxony (48) and Saxony (37). There are also pairs of wolves and individual animals.