Overview
- After a cabinet meeting in Ansbach, the Bavarian hunting and economic minister said district offices can permit culls when beaver activity threatens infrastructure and urged landowners to file applications and hunters to remove animals.
- A September amendment to Bavaria’s hunting law created an exceptions catalog for protected species including beavers, though approvals to remove dams remain the remit of conservation authorities.
- Beavers are strictly protected under Germany’s Federal Nature Conservation Act and the EU Habitats Directive, underscoring legal friction over any lethal control.
- Police in Lower Bavaria are investigating a severely injured beaver found with a gunshot wound near Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg for a possible illegal shooting.
- In a separate development in Saxony, the regional authority approved relocating problem beavers to France through mid‑March 2026, a plan challenged by an emergency court motion from Grüne Liga as fish farmers cite heavy repair costs.