Overview
- Lawmakers also moved to amend the Federal Nature Conservation Act to provide clearer, faster procedures for removing wolves that repeatedly attack livestock.
- Conservation groups including Nabu oppose the change, warning wider culling could disrupt packs and increase attacks, and a national petition has gathered nearly 150,000 signatures.
- Reporting on government plans indicates removals could extend to juvenile wolves in summer months, a provision critics say heightens ecological risks.
- The change does not create an open hunting season, as permissions depend on state rules and defined hunting or closed seasons, with culls remaining case-specific.
- Effects will vary by state; Hesse already placed wolves under its hunting law in 2024, and stakeholders such as farmers, hunters, and Hessen-Forst press for practical management, monitoring, and herd protection as wolf numbers near 2,000 in more than 200 packs.