Wolf La Rioja

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) resembles a powerful German shepherd, with long legs, a straight back, a broad chest and a relatively short, low-carried tail. Adults in Central Europe weigh between around 30 and 50 kilograms, with coats ranging from yellow-grey to grey, a darker saddle patch and a black tail tip. Wolves live in family groups, the pack, made up of the breeding pair, the pups of the current year and the yearlings of the previous year, and in Central Europe they use territories of approximately 150 to 350 square kilometres. Sub-adults usually disperse between the ages of ten and 22 months to look for a territory of their own. The main prey species are roe deer, red deer, wild boar and fallow deer, supplemented by hares and, where herd protection is inadequate, by livestock.

In Germany the wolf was considered extinct from the middle of the 19th century onwards. In 2000 the first reproducing wolf pack was confirmed in Lusatia in Saxony, and since then the species has expanded westwards and southwards on its own from Poland. Today wolf territories have been documented in all 16 German federal states, with strongholds in Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony. In Austria and Switzerland the wolf has returned via the Alps and via the Carpathian-Dinaric population. The Federal Documentation and Advice Centre on Wolves (DBBW) consolidates the nationwide monitoring data for Germany and publishes figures on territories, reproductions, dead animals and livestock damage.

The expansion has been accompanied by growing conflict. The number of livestock injured or killed by wolves in Germany has risen from around 40 animals in 2006 to roughly 4,300 animals in around 1,100 attacks per year, the vast majority of them sheep and goats. Effective herd protection using high electric fences and livestock-guarding dogs is widely regarded as the most reliable preventive measure, but it places significant organisational and financial demands on smaller farms. Beyond livestock the influence of the wolf on roe deer, red deer and fallow deer is regularly discussed, since the presence of large carnivores changes ungulate behaviour, habitat use and cull composition.

The political framework has shifted substantially. The Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive have downgraded the wolf from strictly protected to protected, with the Habitats Directive amendment entering into force in early 2025. In Germany the wolf has now been included in the Federal Hunting Act; in regions with high wolf density and favourable conservation status the federal states can introduce population management, and the legal framework provides for a hunting season between 1 July and 31 October, with the states deciding whether and to what extent this is opened. In parallel the so-called problem-wolf removal remains available: where livestock are repeatedly killed despite proper herd protection, the competent authority can order the removal of a specific wolf, but each authorisation has to be justified in detail. Trade in wolf body parts and trophies remains prohibited under EU species-protection law.

For hunters across the DACH region this puts monitoring at the centre of their role. Sightings, tracks in snow, kills of wild and domestic animals, camera-trap images, scat samples and saliva samples form the basis for genetic identification of individuals and for distinguishing neighbouring territories. Findings should be documented promptly and reported to the responsible state offices or designated wolf advisors. In hunting grounds with wolf presence it is advisable to align cull planning and ungulate management with the state authorities and to keep up to date with the rules on removal, closed seasons and damage compensation, since these are evolving continuously.