Federal government's inaction on the wolf issue called out by Tarricone (FDP)
In the heart of Germany, a debate rages on concerning the conservation status of wolves, particularly in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. At the centre of this controversy is Kathrin Tarricone, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) parliamentary group's spokesperson on hunting policy in Saxony-Anhalt.
Tarricone is urging the federal government to reconsider its assessment of the wolf population in Saxony-Anhalt and other regions, questioning the initial reporting of an 'unknown' conservation status for the 'continental region', which includes Saxony-Anhalt, later followed by a 'favorable' one. She finds this finding incomprehensible and far from reality, as the wolf is no longer endangered and is spreading in Germany.
The FDP is pushing for the federal government to take action on the issue of the wolf population, believing that the government should face the facts regarding the wolf population. The party is calling on the federal government to address the reality of the wolf's presence and spread in Germany, and to acknowledge the wolf's favorable conservation status in the country, given its significant growth.
Tarricone advocates for clear rules for co-existing with the wolf, including reaction management and active population management through hunting. She believes that data is being withheld and wants to know why. The FDP's push for the inclusion of the wolf in the state's hunting law is a response to the growing wolf population in Germany.
The coalition in Saxony-Anhalt has agreed, at the FDP's insistence, to include the wolf in the state's hunting law. This agreement is a signal that livestock farmers have been waiting for a long time. However, the FDP's stance on wolf conservation or the debate in Saxony-Anhalt is not explicitly stated in the available sources.
The dispute over the conservation status of wolves in Germany is a complex one, stemming from differing interpretations of scientific data and conservation criteria. Some political efforts advocate for downgrading the wolf's protection status, arguing socio-economic impacts such as livestock losses, but leading nature conservation organizations oppose this, emphasizing that the wolf population in Germany has not yet achieved a "favorable conservation status" as defined by the EU Habitats Directive.
The reassessment of the wolf population by the federal ministries of the environment and agriculture in Berlin shows a 'favorable conservation status' in some regions of Germany, including the North Sea coast, parts of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Yet, the debate continues, with conservationists warning against premature downgrading of protection status to avoid negative consequences for wolf populations and species conservation in Europe.
[1] Source: European Court of Justice ruling on wolf protection status.
- The FDP, pushing for policy-and-legislation changes, is advocating for the inclusion of environmental-science data regarding wolf populations in the general-news to inform their calls for the wolf to be included in the state's hunting law.
- Kathrin Tarricone, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) spokesperson, is urging the federal government to reconsider its assessment of the wolf's conservation status, noticing a discrepancy between the initial 'unknown' and later 'favorable' status, and believes that this discrepancy is incomprehensible and far from reality.
- In the political arena of Germany, the debate over the welfare and conservation of wolves, particularly in Saxony-Anhalt, has spilled into discussions on the policy-and-legislation surrounding this environmental-science issue.
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