The new working group “Wolf in Hessen” met for the first time, accompanied by a demonstration by grazing animal owners.
According to the Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG), representatives from 29 associations and institutions from the fields of grazing animals, agriculture, nature conservation and hunting, as well as several state authorities, exchanged views at the meeting on Monday in Giessen.
According to the police, the demo had around 120 participants.
The working group serves to keep in touch, "in order to permanently adapt our wolf management to new developments, to learn from the experience with the funding instruments and to find new solutions for living together with the wolf," said State Secretary for the Environment Oliver Conz according to the announcement.
Sheep, goat, cattle or horse keepers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their animals, according to the Hessian Farmers' Association.
Five wolf territories in Hessen
Five regions in Hesse are currently considered to be wolf territories, where mostly individual specimens of the predators live.
According to the HLNUG, since May - the beginning of the current monitoring year - there have been no cases in which DNA traces of a wolf have been detected on farm animal carcasses.
Seven such cases were documented in the observation period from May 2020 to April 2021.
In order to avoid conflicts with the wolf as much as possible, there is a wolf management plan and a wolf center in Hesse.
The working group is part of the measures, which also include subsidies for grazing animal protection.