There are dozens of wolf packs in Germany, not a single one in Baden-Württemberg. Because the three “regulars” are males, so far there has been no trace of a female. Now the experts have struck gold. To the delight of animal lovers – and to the dismay of the shepherds’ guild.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – Will the first female soon move into the Baden-Württemberg men’s WG of the wolves? According to the Ministry of the Environment, a female wolf, a so-called female, has been genetically detected in the southwest for the first time. Swab samples from killed goats in Münstertal (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district) would have confirmed this. At the beginning of January, a total of seven dead goats were reported to the Forestry Research Institute (FVA) in Freiburg.
In Baden-Württemberg, three wolves are currently still considered sedentary, they are all males in the Black Forest. Two of them roam the south of the region. A wolf is considered sedentary if clear evidence can still be found after six months.
“Should the female actually be further in the region, there could be a couple formation,” said the ministry. “It would then also be possible for young animals to be born in early summer 2023 and thus for the first pack to form in the southern Black Forest.” However, it is unclear whether the animal is still in the Black Forest or has already moved on.
The female with the scientific name GW2407f is already a friend: it is registered in the transnational database at the Senckenberg Center for Wildlife Genetics. According to the ministry, she was probably born in Billenhagen (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) in 2021.
Despite the increasing number of wolves in Germany, Baden-Württemberg is still a transit country for the predator. For the coming years, however, experts from the FVA are counting on the first sedentary groups. In Germany there are already 160 wolf packs and over 40 pairs – but none of these groups live in Baden-Württemberg.
The wolf has no natural enemies and is a strictly protected species under nature protection in Germany. Shooting is prohibited unless the wolves, who are actually shy of humans, behave aggressively when they encounter humans. Then the Federal Nature Conservation Act allows a shooting – officially called “extraction”. Such a case of unprovoked aggressive wolf behavior has not occurred since 1998, according to the report.
