Overview

• Certain districts in Baden-Württemberg have introduced temporary exemptions to simplify applications for rook crow shootings to contain crop damage.
• Hunters must still meet strict conditions including targeting flocks of at least 20 birds on the affected fields and acting only upon farmer requests.
• Nils Arnold, a hunter in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, describes the remaining procedures as a significant burden on personnel and resources.
• Conservationists from Nabu Baden-Württemberg warn that broad exemptions undermine species protection and amount to de facto general culling.
• Authorities emphasize that the goal of the controlled shootings is to disperse large flocks rather than to eliminate the protected rook crow population.