A farmers' organization is calling for a change in the laws on hunting wolves after a rise in the number of farm animals killed by predators. Farmers currently face prison for killing the protected animals.
Image: imago/blickwinkel
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The German Farmers' Federation (BFB) has called for the laws protecting wolves to be relaxed — allowing livestock holders to shoot the animals in the wild.
The demand comes after a sharp rise in the number of attacks on farm animals, mostly sheep, in the past year.
BFB President Joachim Rukwied told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper that alternative measures to protect animals were ineffective.
"The answer cannot be an arms race in protecting herds with ever-higher fences. Instead, it must be active and consistent management of the wolf population.
The number of wolf packs in the wild in Germany has been on the rise, increasing from 77 to 105 in the past year. There are also some 25 wolf pairs and 13 lone hunters.
The number of attacks on livestock has also shown a marked rise — from 1,667 to 2,067 — in just 12 months.
The return of the wolves to Germany
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Spread from east to west
In the German state of Lower Saxony, authorities have given permission for one "problem wolf" — said to be responsible for multiple killings of farm animals — to be shot. A bill allowing such killings was passed earlier this year by the German government.
The problem is particularly bad in Lower Saxony, where almost 500 animals were killed by wolves in the last year — the majority being livestock.
The states of Brandenburg and Saxony, on Germany's eastern border with Poland, also reported high numbers of wolf attacks, with 400 farm animals killed in total.
Wolves had been extinct in Germany for some 150 years, making a comeback at the turn of the millennium after crossing the border from Poland.
While environmentalists have celebrated the return of the wolf — which holds high importance in German folklore and the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm — farmers are less enthused.
After establishing a foothold in the region of Lusatia, which straddles Brandenburg and Saxony, wolves have spread across the entire country. Lone territorial wolves have been identified in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein.
The wolf in myths and fairy tales
In mythology and fairy tales, wolves are usually depicted as the bad guys: mean, crafty and out to kill. An exhibition at the Cologne Wallraf Richartz Museum presents the wolf in art.
Image: Burg Wissem, Bilderbuchmuseum der Stadt Troisdorf
Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
Wolves have returned to Germany. And they polarize society: Some people would rather shoot them, others want to keep them safe at any cost. How we see wolves is influenced by literature and art — where the "big bad wolf" has frightened people for many centuries.
The wolf in the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" outsmarts the red hooded girl on her way to visit her sick grandma. The animal sends her to pick flowers so it can run ahead, devour the grandmother and lie in wait for the unsuspecting girl in the woman's bed. When the child finally reaches grandma's house, she is surprised by the old lady's looks, but doesn't make the obvious connection.
Grandma might seem odd to the girl, but she doesn't have much time to think about it, because the wolf devours her, too. Luckily, a hunter is nearby. He cuts open the sleeping wolf's belly, and both grandma and the little girl jump out, safe and sound. The wolf is stuffed with heavy stones, wakes up, collapses and dies.
Image: Burg Wissem, Bilderbuchmuseum der Stadt Troisdorf
The wolf always dies in the end
Johann Wolfgang Goethe's epic poem "Reynard the Fox" also ends with the wolf's death. The tale goes back to a medieval fable. Reynard the fox manages to defeat all of his animal foes, even the wolf Isegrim, who is actually stronger. As a result, the clever fox is appointed chancellor of the animal kingdom by the lion king.
Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses" inspired numerous artists. The above 1589 copperplate engraving "Zeus Turning Lycaon into a Wolf" is from the workshop of Hendrick Goltzius. In Greek mythology, Lycaon drew Zeus' ire because he served him human flesh to test him. Zeus, king of the gods, turned him into a wolf in return, arguing that the transformation would allow Lycaon to indulge in his lust to kill.
"The Wolf Hunt" by Willem van der Leeuw is another example of a popular copperplate engraving, a copy of a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish painter who masterfully depicted motion in his works. In the Baroque era, such reproductions sold well and were made in large numbers. They also served as a form of advertisement for the artist and his workshop.
The exhibition displays more than 30 artworks showing wolves. The images from 16th through the 19th centuries generally portray wolves as aggressive and out for blood, establishing the grim image we still have of wolves today. That fear is unfounded, as wolves are hardly dangerous to people. There hasn't been a single attack on humans in the almost 20 years since wolves resettled in Germany.
Rome's foundation myth includes not a big bad wolf, but a good-natured one — the she-wolf that rescued and nursed the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus. In another version of the story, the term "lupa," or wolf, does not refer to a she-wolf at all: it's rather the slang word for prostitute.
