Wolves Should Be Welcomed in Germany

A captive wolf in Hexentanzplatz in northern Germany.

In Europe, the wolf was and still is persecuted by rural populations. Since the Middle Ages, it has been viewed as the personification of evil and a threat to the farmers' livelihood which drove people to ruthlessly slaughter countless numbers across its home range. However, with the establishment of various national parks and other protected areas, the wolf was saved and its populations began to rebound. As wolf numbers grew, the animals began to move into parts of Europe where they had once disappeared. One of those places is Germany, where wolves had disappeared 150 years ago but have been making a comeback thanks to the country's reunification after 1990 which enhanced Europe's endangered species protections to the eastern part of Germany. The comeback of wolves into Germany has been seen since 2000 with packs crossing the border from Poland. According to the Brandenburg environmental office, wolf packs have increased from zero in 2007 to 26 this year.

Hans-Holger Liste, a soil ecologist, is one of several people in favor of wolves' return to Germany. 

The wolves' return to Germany may be great news for conservationists and to the country's urban population, but to the farmers it is a disaster. This was seen in April when more than forty sheep were killed in a single attack. One of the concerned farmers is Marco Hintze, who demanded that farmers should be given the right to shoot the wolves at an anti-wolf rally in the city of Potsdam last month. He further added that government officials are unresponsive to the concerns of people living in the rural areas. Another man who is against the wolves is Dirk Wellershoff of the Brandenburg Hunting Society, who argued that the animals' return is a manifestation of a larger political problem. That is, Germany's politics is distancing from the people and their concerns and that the wolves are indicators of how the people's problems are not being seen and no solutions are being found. Despite the criticism from farmers, there are also people who are in favor of wolves returning to Germany. One of them is soil ecologist Hans-Holger Liste, who is also a volunteer with a pro-wolf organization called Wolfsschutz Deutschland. He indicated that wolves need to be protected, so that they can benefit Germany's natural environment by controlling the country's excessive deer population. He is also aware of the intense hostility towards wolves in the German countryside. This was seen when authorities found remnants of a female wolf that had been illegally shot and then sunk into a lake with a concrete weight in the state of Saxony over the summer. In addition, there was even a report about a 55-year-old man who was attacked in northern Germany last month. It is unclear whether the attacker was a wolf as wolf attacks on humans are very bizarre, and a following DNA test of the man's bite wound was vague. However, the report threatened to arouse fears for the children's safety in the countryside.

A pair of Eurasian wolves

I honestly believe that wolves deserve to be welcomed back to their former haunts of Germany, where they had disappeared 150 years ago. However, I also firmly believe that emphasis should be placed on the well-being of farmers in order to eliminate the hostility they have been carrying towards wolves. This is the kind of hostility that was prevalent in Europe centuries ago when the vast majority of people were fearful of wolves and demonstrated that attitude through widespread killing, which resulted in regional extinctions across the animals' home range. The countries that have lost wolves over the centuries are Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, United Kingdom, and Ireland. Nowadays, it is mostly the rural populations that are hostile towards wolves. I strongly believe that the governments of Germany and other European wolf countries should join forces with conservation groups to implement necessary steps that ensures the well-being of both wolves and farmers. This includes employing livestock guardian dogs to protect their animals without resorting to retaliatory killing. In addition, the farmers' properties should be surrounded by some kind of protective barricade to prevent wolves from venturing in. Furthermore, it is essential to conduct educational outreach programs and workshops to farmers and the general public about the importance of wolves and how to prevent possible attacks on people from them. Wolves are crucial for the survival and well-being of Germany's ecosystems, especially when there is an overabundance of deer, wild boar, and other herbivores. Without wolves, herbivore populations would continue to escalate and as a result increase in the damage on newly-planted trees. This is why wolves should be welcomed in Germany and other European countries where they had once disappeared.

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