After cracking incidents: HessenForst checks wolf shooting in the Lahn-Dill district

After several incidents of tearing in the wolf territory of Greifenstein (Lahn-Dill district), a wolf could now be shot to prevent damage. The Federal Hunting Act provides a corresponding legal basis for this, said a spokesman for the HessenForst state company, which also houses the Hesse Wolf Center.

The crack events in the region have increased in number over the past few weeks. The spokesman said the cause was three different wolf individuals. The Federal Hunting Act states: If an animal overcomes reasonable grazing protection in the course of a livestock raid, a wolf in a territory can be released for shooting for six weeks and within a radius of 20 kilometers from a raid incident. These conditions are now met, it was said. A “preventative removal to prevent damage” is currently being examined.

The concerns of grazing livestock farmers are taken very seriously, said the spokesman. Even after the decisions of the Hessian Administrative Court (VGH), there is now the necessary legal clarity. “The existing options should therefore be used as quickly as possible and without avoidable delays in order to prevent further damage as much as possible and to help calm the situation in the region.”

Just a few days ago, the VGH finally gave the green light for the shooting of young wolves in the Lahn-Dill district. The VGH had decided that the “lethal removal” of four juvenile wolves and the restriction of the hunting area to the district were not legally objectionable and at the same time rejected the complaints of three environmental and nature conservation associations. They had filed urgent applications against two previous decisions by the Kassel Administrative Court to prevent shootings.

This was preceded by the issuance of a general decree by the Kassel Regional Council (RP) on the “cross-district management plan for the state of Hesse in the hunting year 2026/2027”. It allows the shooting of a total of four young wolves in the Lahn-Dill district during the hunting season from July 1st to October 31st. Because two wolves found dead are counted towards this number, it actually remains possible to kill two more young wolves.

Since the requirements of the Federal Hunting Act are now considered to be met in the Greifenstein territory, it would theoretically be possible for up to three wolves to be shot in the region.