Overview
- The Agriculture and Environment ministries announced a joint package to place the wolf under the Federal Hunting Law, a step enabled by the EU’s downgrade of the species from strictly protected to protected and a federal finding of a favourable status.
- The framework would allow states to adopt regional population management plans in areas with high wolf density and to regulate numbers where conservation status is assessed as stable.
- Wolves that kill livestock despite adequate herd-protection measures could be lawfully removed, with removals also possible in places where fencing or guard dogs are not practicable.
- The plan includes stronger support for herd protection via higher GAK premiums, simplified financing procedures, a five-year performance report to the Bundestag, and a stakeholder roundtable by the end of 2026.
- Brandenburg welcomed the move and cited 279 wolf-related damage cases in 2024 with 1,047 livestock killed, injured, or missing, underscoring demand for clearer intervention tools.