The number of wolves (Canis lupus) in Germany has been increasing since their return in 1998. Between 1 May 2021 and 30 April 2022, the officially confirmed number of wolf packs nationwide rose to 161 (previous year: 158). The number of wolf pairs increased to 43 (previous year: 35), the number of individual wolves remained almost constant at 21 (previous year: 22), according to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Federal Documentation and Advisory Centre on the subject of wolves (DBBW).
"This is a natural growth and a slightly lower increase than in previous years," said Sandra Balzer, head of the Department of Zoological Species Conservation at the BfN. The figures are based on surveys of the countries with scientifically proven evidence, for example through gene traces and camera trap images, explained BFN President Sabine Riewenherm.
Attacks on farm animals are always causing public discussions about the strictly protected wolf, especially on sheep and goats. In 2021, a total of 975 attacks by wolves with 3374 injured, missing or killed farm animals were reported. In the previous year there were 942 attacks.
For livestock farmers, however, there are state subsidies for herd protection in almost all federal states with established wolf populations in Germany. Electric fences about 1.20 meters high and – depending on the individual case – herding dogs are recommended. Nationwide, a good 16.6 million euros were spent in 2021, according to the report. In addition, authorities paid almost half a million euros in damages to owners of farm animals during the same period.
Comprehensive herd protection should be carried out as preventively as possible, i.e. before wolves get used to tearing sheep and goats or even smaller cattle and foals as supposedly "easy prey", the Federal Office advises. A general hunting of wolves, on the other hand, is not a suitable measure against livestock damage from the point of view of experts.
Most wolf packs, namely 47, lived in Brandenburg, followed by Lower Saxony (34) and Saxony (31), according to the report in 2021/22. There were two packs in the state-strongest state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Nationwide, the detectable number of wolves in the well -known wolf areas for the wolf year is estimated to be in 1175, whereby the total stock cannot be seriously estimated, among other things, because of the many kilometers wide hikes of the animals. There is also no comparison number for the previous year.
Wolves are protected in Germany as a strictly protected species. Shooting is forbidden unless humans behave unusually aggressively towards rather shy wolves. Then the Federal Nature Conservation Act allows them to be shot down – officially called "removal". However, such a case has not occurred since 1998, according to the report.
148 Wolves were found dead between May 2021 and April 2022. Of these, 102 died in road accidents. After all, 13 individual animals were also killed illegally in violation of the Animal Protection Act.
